vulgar Minds and such as are mostly led by Imagination that are thus taken with the Novelty and Sound of Words and seek about for Variety of Expressions Now this is a Weakness in them which you should be so far from cherishing and encourageing that you ought rather to use your best Skill to perswade them out of it and to let them know that God neither expects nor is delighted with these things For true Religion inclines still to the doing and speaking the same things He that endeavours to keep up a constant Reverence and Fear of God in his Heart and by a daily continued Practice desires the same Blessings in the same Words shall be more soberly and religiously devout and find better Acceptance with him than he that loves and labours for new Words and thinks he shall not be accepted without a Multitude or Variety of Expressions The Study whereof is more apt to distract than compose the Mind in this Duty Indeed where God in his Providence hath done any new thing either by sending some new Judgment or Calamity or by bestowing some new Mercy or Deliverance here in our publick Fasts and Thanksgivings there must be such new Words as may suit such Occasions And Thanks be to God the pious Care and Wisdom of our Governours is never wanting to make a due and suitable Provision for us on such Occasions But for the constant Matter of our daily Prayers and Praises there can be no need of new Words but only to bring new Hearts and good Affections in the use of the old well-digested Words and Composures of the Church We read of our Saviour's praying three times most earnestly using the same Words so that these can neither hinder the Earnestness nor the Efficacy of true Devotion In the Prayer that Christ gave his Disciples and in all the Prayers he put up himself he hath left no Command or Example for such unnecessary Variation but rather the quite contrary and therefore you are to consider further how you will excuse it from Superstition to think that God is pleas'd with many and new Words or displeas'd without them Which is to place Religion in things which God hath no where requir'd at your hands and to lay a doctrinal Necessity in the Inventions of Men Which is a piece of Will-worship and Superstition As for the Multitude of Words Solomon hath shew'd that to be an Occasion of Sin Prov. 10.19 and an Instance of great Folly Eccles 5.2 and therefore wills that our Words unto God should be few And our Blessed Saviour condemned the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Matth. 5. or much speaking of the Heathens and all that imitate them And as for the Change and Variety of Expressions in Prayer there is not the least Colour of a Command or Encouragement for it in Holy Scripture for tho' we are bid To pray 〈◊〉 all prayer and supplication in the spirit Ephes 6.18 That is by the same Apostle expounded of the several parts of Prayer but is understood by none 1 Tim 2.12 of extempore or varied Prayers So that to make it a Ministerial Duty to pray without Book and to put the Vulgar upon beating their Brains for new Phrases as a more spiritual way of praying cannot be excused from Vanity and Superstition Yea a Learned and Ingenious Divine hath shew'd this to be a sort of Idolatry For the Mis-representation of God and worshipping him according to that Misrepresentation is the Sin of Idolatry Now to think to please God with new and varied Phrases in Prayer is to mis-represent him and to take him for such an one as our selves and by offering up such Prayers we worship him according to that Image and false Representation of him And therefore 't will be hard to excuse this Practice from the Sin of Idolatry Yea such Persons not only represent God under the Shape of a Man but pray to him as represented under the Weaknesses of a Man And certainly if the Mis-representation of the Object makes the Idolatry by how much the worse the Representation is by so much the grosser must the Idolatry be Sir If you will throughly weigh and consider these things you will find That the main Work and Business of Prayer lies in the Heart and the good Motions of it And therefore the Gift or Ability of performing it must properly be placed there So that your great Mistake all this while hath been in taking the Gift of wording Prayer for the Gift of Prayer To rectifie which you must know that Words are no part of Prayer or if they were the well-consider'd and digested Words of a Form are far more agreeable to the Nature and Dignity of this Duty and the Majesty we address to in it than any present and hasty Expressions And consequently the Gift of composing pious and well-ordered Forms for publick and private Devotion is in this Sense far more fitly styl'd the Gift of Prayer than your Talent of Extemporary Effusions But at rast I find you in that Letter of April 15th acknowledging that the offering up pious Desires to God without the use of any Words is Prayer in a proper Sense and that pious Souls who are duly affected with their Wants Sins and Mercies may be said to have the Gift of Praying acceptably to God in a spiritual manner without them Where you seem to place the Gift of Prayer as it should be in the Heart Yea all your own Arguments and Distinctions if well consider'd do most properly and principally place it there For what you call the special internal devout spiritual and successful Gift is truly the Gift or Grace of Prayer And what you style the common external and artificial Gift is properly the Gift of Speech Utterance and Elocution applyed to the Duty of Prayer And for the Novelty and Variety of Words you grant in your Letter of April 1st that 't is no further necessary than as the various Matter and Occasions require So that Thanks be to God by these Concessions that part of the Controversie is come to a pretty good Issue It remains then that you endeavour to undeceive the People and take them off from their vain and high Thoughts of this Verbal Gift That they may return to the Ancient Publick and Devout Prayers of the Church from which they have ignorantly swerved I am Yours in all true Affection M. H. July 24th 1697. LETTER II. SIR I Consider'd in my last the Letters relating to the Gift of Prayer and finding nothing of moment objected against them that may need or deserve a farther Answer I proceed to the Letters that relate to Forms of Prayer About which two Things are chiefly to be considered viz. 1st their Lawfulness and 2dly their Expediency And that we may bring Things to some good Issue I will shew how far we are agreed that we may the better compromize Matters where we differ 1. First then We are agreed about the lawfulness of
shews them to be very just and impartial Judges However since such weak or rather wilful Persons who are impatient of Truth and resolve to shut both their Eyes and Ears against it do thereby plainly appear to be prejudiced and incompetent Judges in the Case The whole Matter is referr'd to the better Judgment of more knowing and lessbyass'd Readers Farewell LETTER I. To J. M. SIR I Receiv'd another Packet of Letters from you in which I find you trying your Skill in making some Replies to my former Letters concerning the Gift and Forms of Prayer but to how little purpose I hope to make you sensible by degrees And to that end all that you offer in them of any moment shall be consider'd in due time and order 1 First then for the Letters that concern the Gift of Prayer your own Concessions seem to bid fair towards an Accomodation For you begin to see that an Ability or Variety of Expressions are tho' vulgarly yet improperly and abusively styl'd The Gift of Prayer For in your Letter of April 1st you tell me you can well enough grant that such an Ability as you mention is not properly the Gift of Prayer and that 't is only the Gift of uttering Prayer and comfort your self with this That however improper it may be you are not the first that have so styl'd it This is a good Concession if you would keep to it for hereby you may see Prayer to be no Verbal but Spiritual thing and consists mainly in the inward Desires and Breathings of the Soul after God In your Letter of April 15th you own this Ability to be such a Gift as that by which the Pharisees Hypocrites and all wicked Men are said to pray Which must be very improperly call'd by the sacred Name of Prayer since 't is All no better than an Abomination to the Lord. If then this Gift doth not properly lie there there must be some other thing in which it may be more properly placed And the Knowledge of that would clear up this matter What then should that be Why we see it must lie either in the Heart or the Tongue i. e. either in the pious motions of the one or in the nimble and ready motion of the other Now I think you will scarce venture to put it in the nimbleness of the Tongue which is apt to run too fast and out of the way too and may not be trusted without a Bridle And therefore the Psalmist resolved to keep his Mouth as it were with a Bridle to restrain its Extravagance and to look to his Ways that he might not offend with his Tongue And St. James tells us That He that offends not with his tongue especially when let loose must be a perfect man So that this Gift cannot be safely plac'd there especially since the whole Work and Business of Prayer may be perform'd without it Now if you would but speak out and make the Heart the proper place of it which is indeed the true Seat of all Devotion there might be a speedy end of that part of the Controversy And the better to encourage you to speak out in a matter of this Consequence consider Sir the three different ways of addressing or drawing nigh unto God viz. 1. The First is with the Heart and that is performed by the inward Desires and Elevations of the Mind and Soul to him and this is very truly and properly styled Prayer and is all that is Essential to it 2. The Second is with the Lips when the Heart is far from Him And this may be rather called vain talking and babling than praying to him 3. The Third is with the Heart and Lips together that is when the Heart and the Tongue accompany each other And this is that Vocal Prayer used in publick whereby we are enabled with one Mind and one Mouth to glorifie our Great Creator Now here two things are carefully to be distinguish'd the one is an Ability of lifting up the Heart in holy Desires unto God And this is properly the Gift of Prayer the other is an Ability of expressing those Desires and putting them into fit Words And this is properly the Gift of Speech Utterance and Elocution the use whereof in Prayer is to help us to join together in our Requests and to put up the same Petitions And this is far better done in the known consider'd Words of godly Forms than the sudden Effusions of free Prayer Sir If you well consider and digest this your Eyes might soon open and discern between the Gift of Prayer and the Gift of Speech and that the Heart is the proper Seat of the one as the Tongue is of the other The confounding of these two different things hath confounded your Notious about it whereas the distinguishing between them would shew you the different Nature and Place of both And this is the more carefully to be distinguished and attended to because the want of it hath led many into great and dangerous Mistakes For he that can use most new Words and hath the best Faculty of changing and varying Phrases is by too many thought to pray best And the ordinary Gift of Prayer which you talk so much of and would have studied and practis'd by Ministers and People is nothing else than this Faculty of Variations which is rather a hindrance than furtherance of true Devotion And yet you seem to put the Life and Spirit of Prayer chiefly in it For you tell me That the same Words are apt to deaden and cloy and that all Men are delighted with Varieties and new things And to shew what a mighty Stress you lay upon such Novelties your Brethren are wont to ask whether he that sings still the same Song or is always telling the same Story would not make those that hear him to grow weary and sick of them Thence inferring that the daily and constant use of the same Prayers will have the same Effect upon the Minds of the People who are therefore to be entertain'd with new But is there no difference think you between these things Are not Songs and Stories things merely intended to gratifie the Senses and please the Fancy which is best taken with new things And are these to be compar'd with the sublime and weighty Matters of Religion which are design'd to affect the Heart and are still exercis'd about the same things The Diversions of humane Life best attain their end by Change and Variety but must we be given to change too in Matters of Religion and hunt about for new Words and Phrases when we address to God for the same things I hope you do not think that God Almighty is taken with new things since all the Pleasure of them is occasion'd chiefly from Suddenness and Surprize and therefore cannot affect him to whom nothing can be new And we find wise Men who are govern'd more by Judgment than Fancy are but little affected with such things So that 't is only
if we could Pray as well or better without it when it was mainly given because we cannot Pray at all Now here you ask again for you so far suspect the truth of what you write that you lay it down by Queries rather than Positions I say you ask farther whether the Lord's Prayer as a prescrib'd Form were to last beyond his Resurrection and the Effusion of the Holy Ghost Why not Is there any shew of Reason or Authority to limit it only to that time Does not our Saviour say absolutely when ye pray say Our Father c. and when he hath not given the least intimation of its being Temporary what Presumption is it to pretend the Precepts of Christ to be out of date May not this Artifice make void all the Commandments of God by fixing them to a certain Period and taking off their Obligation from all that live beyond Take heed Sir of such Arts. But if Christ had intended it for a perpetual Form say you with other of your Brethren it cannot be imagin'd that he should leave out his own Name Sir To ask in Christ's Name is to ask through Christ's Merits which did not take place till after his Death and Resurrection and likewise to ask in vertue of his Mediation as our Intercessor and Advocate at God's Right Hand which was a Priviledge that commenc'd not till after his Ascension into Heaven and therefore we find the Disciples Joh. 16.24 who before that had asked nothing in his Name were after injoyn'd and encouraged to ask any thing in it with an assurance of being heard Besides tho' Christ's Name be not expresly mention'd in the Lord's Prayer yet 't is vertually implied in almost every Petition of it for we cannot call God Father but upon the account of Christ neither can we ask forgiveness of Sins or deliverance from any Evils but thro' his Mercy and Mediation so that this can be no shadow of Reason either to detract from the Honour or to lay aside the use of this Divine Form But I must not wholly pass by what you offer against the Testimonies I produc'd for the use of the Lord's Prayer as a Form in the several Ages of the Christian Church In the first Age after the Apostles the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of Ignatius that is the one Prayer or the one Supplication must be understood of the Lord's Prayer or of one common Prayer Compos'd by it For if their Prayers were varied every Day they could not properly be called one Prayer And against this I do not find any Objection In the second Century when I cited the Testimony of Lucian for the use of the Lord's Prayer You except against him because he was a Scoffing Pagan But Sir may not a Scoffer be a good Witness for the use of the thing which he Scoffs at Are not the Atheists and the Deists good Witnesses of the general belief of a God and the Holy Scriptures in the present Age tho' themselves are too apt to deny the one and deride the other To the Testimony of Tertullian St. Cyprian and other Fathers in the following Ages for the use of the Lord's Prayer tho' you struggle and labour hard to say something Yet 't is with so little appearance of Reason or Truth that it needs no Answer And you are so choak'd with the Testimony of Calvin and other Divines abroad and likewise with the Assembly of Divines at home who both us'd the Lord's Prayer themselves and recommended the use of it as a Form to others that you wisely enough let it pass without saying much to it And therefore if you will take the advice of a Friend I think you were better yield this Point than wrangle any more about it And thus having I hope pretty well clear'd the use of the Lord's Prayer in the same Words I shall next consider what you have to say against the Antiquity and use of Liturgies Compos'd by it In the mean time I am SIR Yours M. H. Aug. 19th 1697. LETTER XII SIR I Shew'd in my last the Lord's Prayer to be intended as a Form and so used by the Christian Church and likewise vindicated it from the Disuse and Contempt which some have cast upon it tho' 't is sad that our unhappy and divided Age should make such a Task necessary In the next place then I am to consider what you say against the Antiquity of Liturgies and other Forms of Prayer compos'd by it And here I cannot but take notice of a pretty Conceit of yours concerning Liturgies in your Letter of July the 6th for finding them often mention'd in the Ancient Fathers you think fit to put in your Claim to them and will have them understood not so much of a Book of prescrib'd stinted Forms as of unwritten and Extempore Prayers in the publick Ministrations Alas What will not some Men say or do to help out a bad Cause But where Sir in any of the Fathers is Extempore Prayer so much as mention'd much less stil'd a Liturgy or made any part of it And indeed how is it possible it should be when it consists only of present and sudden Conceptions Were not the Ancient Liturgies the set and standing Offices of publick and solemn Devotion that were well known to the People who bore a part in them and had often Recourse to them And how can this be said of Extempore Prayers where neither Minister nor People know any thing of it before nor scarce remember any thing of it after But in this and likewise in what follows concerning the Liturgies of St. Peter St. Mark and St. James tho' you vainly think you have done great Feats and made some new Discoveries to the utter confounding of Liturgies yet 't is all taken out of a Book Intituled A Reasonable Account why some Non-conforming Ministers refuse to perform their Ministerial Acts of Solemn and Publick Worship by the prescrib'd Forms of others And likewise out of a Posthumous Piece of Mr. David Clarkson's both which Books being so fully answered and refuted the one by Dr. Falkner in his Vindication of Liturgies the other by Dr. Comber in his Original and Vse of them I shall not need to add any thing to the Labours of those learned Men and therefore shall only refer you to them But there is no valuable Antiquity say you but the three first Centuries and if the Use of Liturgies can't be sound and prov'd there you are resolv'd to have no value for them Sir Though we want not Proof of the Use of Liturgies in those early Times of Christianity Yet learned Men have given such wise and sufficient Reasons why we may not expect to hear so much of them in those as in the following Ages as may well enough satisfie any rational and well-meaning Man about it If you have not consider'd them I will recommend some of them to your serious Consideration As First The Continuance of the extraordinary Gifts and Assistances
through all the Ages of the Church Pliny lib. 10. Pliny tells us That the Christians sang their Hymns secum invicem alternately and by Parts Ignatius is said to have brought in this Usage in the Church of Amioch And many of the Fathers make mention of the Use of Antiphones and Responses in the Worship of God which plainly proves not only the Ancient Use of Liturgies but that the People bore a part in them But my Sermon say you stiles the Minister the Mouth of the People to make known their Requests unto God and how is it agreeable with this and the Holy Scriptures for the People to say half the Prayers when we read ordinarily of no more than Amen to be said by them Sir Though the Minister be truly said to be the Mouth of the People to offer up their Prayers unto God yet the People are requir'd to join with him and with one Mind and one Mouth to glorifie their Maker And how can this be done if their Lips may not be open'd nor their Mouth shew forth his Praise And tho' we read That he that occupieth the room of the unlearned said only Amen at the Priest's Blessing or giving of Thanks that is at the Consecration of the Holy Eucharist yet St. Jerom tells us That Populus cum Sacerdote loquitur in precibus The People speak with the Priest in the other Prayers But the Women saith a Brother of yours are forbidden to speak in the Church and therefore that part of the Congregation at least is debar'd from the Antiâ—…'s and Responses Sir For the composing and directing of Prayers for publick Worship and likewise the teaching and instructing the People this way of speaking being an Act of Authority is peculiar to the Minister and is forbidden to Women in the Church but for joining in the Words of Confession and Supplication this being an Act of Humility and Subjection is allow'd to the Female Sex who have Sins to confess and Souls to save as well as Men. Thus I have consider'd the Stroaks added to the Picture of the Pharisee If they have rather marr'd than mended the Matter and only serv'd to shew you the Spots and Deformity of your Worship you may thank your self I am SIR Yours M. H. Oct. 22th 1697. LETTER XIX SIR YOur Answer to mine of June 17th brings you you say to the very Dregs of my Sermon But why is that unsavoury Word to be given to a Sermon especially by one that is so great an Admirer of Preaching Why 't is for bringing Extempore-Prayer from the very Dregs of Popery which yet will not make it unsavoury in some Mens Nostrils tho' it came from the bottomless Pit When to shew it a late Invention I told you that Antiquity makes mention only of two ways of Praying the one by immediate Inspiration and the other by the use of publick Forms You cry out This is unparallel'd What is there no way of secret Ejaculatory Family Prayer made mention of in Scripture or Antiquity besides these But Sir You forget That 't is the solemn Prayers of publick Worship that is the subject of our Debate which as St. Chrysostom tells us were in the Days of the Apostles and some Ages after perform'd by Inspiration and when that ceas'd the Use of publick Forms hath been prov'd and deriv'd down ever since So that what you say of Secret Ejaculatory Family Prayer in which a greater Freedom hath been ever allow'd is nothing to our Purpose and all your Out cries thereupon are both frivolous and impertinent In your granting the Preliminaries you own the creating and continuing Divisions to be one of the principal Wiles of Romish Emissaries But to salve the Credit of free Prayer you would have Uniformity one of the main Tools they act by Sir Those subtle Agents are too cunning to act with Tools that are not fit and proper for the Work they know well enough that joining together in the same Forms and Way of Worship is the best means to promote Peace and Unity which is none of their Business and they never hope to make that an Instrument of Division any other way than by disparaging and destroying it they have found by Experience that free Prayer is the proper Tool for their Work and therefore have been whetting that and their Wits too to promote it as the best Engine they can work by But is not the New Uniformity say you a standing Evidence and Occasion of our Dissentions Yes but how Why just as our Blessed Saviour is said to bring not Peace on Earth but a Sword Which must not be understood as if the Gospel of Christ had any natural Tendency to War and Disturbance but that Mens corrupt Natures and Designs would take Occasion from thence to fall into them Neither is there any Tendency in Uniformity to create but extinguish Divisions and yet such is the Depravation and Perverseness of some Mens Natures as to turn Antidotes into Poison and make the very Instruments of Peace become the Engines of Discord But you cannot believe the Stories of Cummin and Heth Why so Can any Matter of Fact be confirm'd with better Evidence the one from the Memorials of the Queen's Council-board and the other from the Records of a Bishop's See You would believe any thing that made for free Prayer upon half the Evidence a little glimmering Light peeping through a cranny can shew you the Excellency but the brightest Light of Noon-Day can't make you see the Danger and Deformity of it Is not this gross Partiality But 't is a Mystery say you that these Stories should not come abroad till about 120 Years after the Matter of Fact Sir Have not some Truths slept much longer especially when there was no Occasion for awaking them The Divisions at that time and long after were but few and inconsiderable and there was little or no Dread or Danger of them which might make these and other Passages of like Nature pass away unobserved but when Divisions came to multiply and by the encrease of Sects to threaten the Government the common Safety put Men upon a farther Search into the Rise of them to observe what was before neglected and Divine Providence for wise ends may bring some things to light which had lain a while and slept in Darkness But the Doctor who publish'd these things had a Fire brand in his Tail Why so Why for shewing Mr. Baxter and Mr. Jenkins the Rise and Progress of those Divisions whence they came and whither they tend and cautioning them against the Evil and Mischief of them And is it not better to cry Fire to prevent the Danger than silently suffer it to spread and put a whole Kingdom into a Combustion And yet your reading of Fire and Sword throughout the Book renders say you the Stories the more suspected Sir There is no Fire or Sword in that Book that tends to destroy but like the flaming Sword that guarded Paradise serves
inter ipsas Pectoris Latebras Silently and Modestly within the Secrets of their own Breasts So that as the Nature So the Gift of Prayer must be so defin'd as to extend to and comprize both The not knowing or considering this hath led him into this Mistake of restraining the Gift of Prayer only to that which is Vocal by which means he passeth by that which is Essential and Common with it to the several kinds of Prayer viz. the elevation of the Heart and places the Gift of it in an Ability of Expressions which belongs only to vocal Prayer and that too not as 't is Prayer but only as 't is Vocal which hath occasion'd that vulgar Error of calling the Gift of Speech applied to the Matter of Prayer by the Name of the Gift of Prayer This plainly shews the Falshood of what he affirms about the State of the Question that 't is not concerning Prayer in general And likewise the Absurdity of what follows in calling his Gift of free Prayer by the Name of Ministerial Prayer As if the great Work and Duty of the Ministry lay in Praying by these Effusions and none were to be admitted to the Ministerial Function that cannot or will not venture to Pray Extempore But is not Praying by a Liturgy or publick Forms Ministerial Prayer And are there no well qualified Ministers in the Church of England because they do not presume to utter any things hastily before God or use this Talent of free Prayer Beside do not many among the Laity Exercise and as he saith Excel too in this Gift How comes it then to be stil'd Ministerial Prayer Do the People invade the Ministers Office when they Pray Extempore Into what gross Absurdities hath these wrong Notions led him And yet upon these and many other Mistakes is his whole Answer grounded which having so bad a Foundation all the Frame and Superstructure rais'd upon it must fall with it Yet he is fully satisfied he saith That sincere Prayer whether conceiv'd or compos'd is as ill chosen an Enemy as any can light on for 't is dangerous to expose and difficult to conquer it Now how tender soever he may be of conceived Prayers 't is plain he can load compos'd Devotion with the blackest Reproaches for Liturgies are with him only the Brats and Imps of Darkness the effects of the Ignorance and Laziness of the Clergy and the product of a Dark and degenerate Age. Whereas free Prayer he saith is the Issue of a Meridian Light and none can triumph in the Conquest of it For the Proof of which he tells us of a Triumphant Paper in the time of the Civil Wars that had this Expression in it Nil restat Superare Regem c. which being Ambiguous he saith was construed in a double Sense viz. Either that nothing remain'd but for the King to conquer the Prayers of the Fanaticks or for the Prayers of Fanaticks to conquer the King And the Fanaticks Prayers it seems had the best on 't for they brought that good King to the Block and made three once flourishing Kingdoms miserable and unhappy ever since A glorious and triumphant Atchievment of Extempore Prayer Moreover it seems by him That the Oaths of the one Party were Extempore Effusions as well as the Prayers of the other and 't is not easy to say which did the most Mischief But he is not he saith upon equal Terms with the Vicar in this Controversie How so Does the Inequality lie in the goodness of the Vicars Cause That 's a great Inequality indeed Or does it lie in the greater Power and Authority that backs it This is true too tho' he will scarce acknowledg it for the one is establish'd and the other only wink'd at But the Vicar may say any thing against free Prayer And hath not he said the worst he can against Liturgies 'T is to be fear'd if some Men had the Power they would scarce give the liberty they take and this Shew of Modesty is only an Excuse for their too great Boldness But there are some dainty Remarks in the Close of his Preface that must not be pass'd by As First he very wisely blames me for not printing a Letter that was never intended for the Press but design'd only for a private Check of his Vanity in exposing the Liturgy as defective upon a particular Occasion And likewise for disparaging some Reverend Clergy-men in a Matter that plainly appear'd to be a Notorious Falsity Secondly He complains that I corrected my Letters before they were sent to the Press Now I think he is the first Person that ever blam'd any Author for so doing which is so far from a Fault that it would be great Folly in any to do otherwise And yet he hath instill'd this silly Objection into his credulous Followers who are thereby persuaded that 't is as necessary to print as to pray Extempore But That which renders this monstrously gross and inexcusable is that himself or some Body for him hath far out-gone me in the very thing he complains of For tho' my Letters had only the ordinary and usual Corrections that Books are wont to have that are sent to the Press and all the Additions and Alterations may be compriz'd in a Phrase-leaf his are contracted chang'd and almost corrected all away insomuch that tho' I had seen and read the Letters before and have a Copy of them by me yet they are so alter'd that I can scarce know them again And tho' J. M. be in the Title-Page yet for the most part I am to seek for the True Author Now if the little I did in this kind were well done why does he complain If it were ill done why does he imitate it Yea and run so far into the other Extreme For his are not only corrected but for the most part made anew and like some of our old Ships have undergone so many Emendations that few of the first Materials are remaining But There is yet a worse thing than all this for tho' he grants that he denied me a Correct Copy and his Consent for publishing them any otherwise than by the first rude Draught which must have unavoidably expos'd him to the World and might have afforded just cause of Complaint yet he still complains of what I said of his not consenting to publish them which shews that either he doth not know or will not own when he is civilly dealt with I shall detain the Reader no longer from looking into the Merits of the Cause when I have minded him of one Thing viz. That the Party having with much difficulty procur'd this Book they have now got something to say namely that mine is answer'd tho' it matters not how or by whom And tho' any understanding Reader may easily see the Weakness of it yet they triumph in it as an unanswerable Piece and resolve before-hand not to hear or read any thing that may be said or written against it which
beyond all Contradiction And that Christ himself who was the great Light of the World taught his Disciples a Form is too plain in sacred Writ to be called in Question And was this done think you to keep Men in Darkness or to help them out of it If we go on to the following Ages When were there greater Lights set up in the Christian Church than in the Days of St. Cyprian St. Chrysostom St. Basil St. Ambrose St. Austin c. And yet all these were either Composers of Liturgies themselves for the use of their several Churches or Approvers and Users of such as were composed by others And will you reckon the pious Composures of these great Lights among the Works of Darkness To come down to the Times of the Reformation When did there appear greater Lights in the Horizon of the English Church than Cranmer and Ridley and the other Compilers of our Liturgy And what admirable Wisdom Piety and Moderation have they shewed in the compiling of it which make it a Work little less than Divine and next to the Inspired Writings hath nothing extant in the Christian World to exceed or equal it And is it expedient think you that this should give place to the present and hasty Conceptions of every empty Brain But 2. Secondly You limit the Expediency of Forms not only by the difference of Times but by the difference of Mens Abilities And this you are so full of that you vent it almost in every Letter frequently vaunting of yours and some others mighty Talent and great Abilities of expressing themselves fitly to God in Prayer without Forms But Sir were not those eminent and learned Persons before-mentioned who compos'd and us'd Forms of Prayer Men of far greater Parts and Abilities than such as now vainly pretend to be above them Can every conceited Holder-forth think you pray better than St. Cyprian St. Chrysostom and other Ancient Fathers who were famed for their Eloquence and great Abilities and yet thought fit to use Forms in their publick Ministrations Yea do not the most able and learned Men in the present as well as former Ages celebrate the publick Worship by Forms whose Abilities are well known to be much greater than theirs who think they have no need of them Besides Sir 't is a Mistake to think that any such great Abilities are requisite to this extempore way of praying A great deal of Confidence with very slender Abilities is sufficient to do the Feat Your self tell me in your 2d Letter that you know a great many who have this Gift of expressing themselves fluently this way that have no Gift of Elocution or Readiness of Speech upon any other Occasion The Truth is Extempore-Prayer when 't is best and most dextrously perform'd requires no more than a heated Fancy a bold Front and a voluble Tongue and therefore an ingenious Author hath told us That it deserves much the same Commendation that is due to Extempore-Verses only with this difference that there is necessary to these latter a competent Measure of Wit and Learning whereas the former may be done with very little Wit and no Learning at all So that the Expediency of Forms of Prayer which you own in the general is but little weakned by your unwarrantable Restrictions For if they were found expedient in Times of greatest Light and if Men of the greatest Parts and Abilities have thought it fit and necessary to use them certainly such as only talk of great Light and are vainly conceited of much less Abilities must have the greatest need of them But let us see upon what this Expediency of Forms of Prayer is grounded and that may help us to see more clearly into the Weakness and Vanity of the aforesaid Limitations And 1st the wise Man founds it on the distance that is between God and us willing us Not to be rash with our mouth or hasty to utter any thing before God because he is in Heaven and we upon Earth Eccles v. 2. shewing that the Reverence we owe to our Maker arising from the Sense of our Infinite distance from him forbids us to bespeak him in a hasty loose and careless manner Now this will serve for all Times and Persons none being ever allowed to vent any thing rashly or hastily before him 2dly The utter Inability of the best of us to perform the Duty of Prayer so well by present and sudden Conceptions as by well consider'd and digested Forms is another ground of the Expediency of them and this makes it necessary for all Persons in all Times and Occasions The Disciples of Christ were sensible of this and therefore begg'd our Saviour to teach them to pray Who thereupon assisted them with a Form And of this the many Indecencies and Imperfections of those that practise otherwise may abundantly convince us 3dly Thirdly Your great Friend and Father Mr. John Calvin hath laid down the Expediency of Forms of Prayer and other Ecclesiastical Rites upon such firm Grounds as will last to all Ages and shew the perpetual Use and Necessity of them For in his Epistle to the Lord Protector Calvin's Epist 87. he amply declares his Approbation of them and would have them so determined that it might not be lawful for Ministers in their Administrations to vary from them and that for these Reasons partly to be a help to the Weakness of some who cannot well perform their Duty without them partly to put a stop to the desultorious Levity of others who affect too much New things and partly likewise to be a Testimony of the Church's Consent in Doctrine and Worship to future Ages Now all or some of these things will make Forms of Prayer necessary and expedient at All Times and for All Persons And consequently the Expediency of them may be asserted and established without your frivolous and groundless Limitations And thus having shewn how far we are agreed about the Lawfulness and Expediency of Forms of Prayer and likewise having endeavoured to remove the little Exceptions which are wont to cereate some small difference in both my next Business must be to consider what you offer against the Injunction of them for publick Worship In the mean time I am SIR Yours M. H. August 12th 1697. LETTER IV. SIR WE have seen how far we are agreed about the Lawfulness and Expediency of Forms of Prayer In both which the difference between us when well consider'd is found so small that an honest and humble Mind may easily yield it to the Wisdom and Authority of Superiours for the sake of Peace And that you may be the better perswaded to this let us go on to consider what is further said concerning the Injunction of Forms to see how we accord here that we may the better remove the Mistakes and Differences that have been raised about it And here you tell me more than once in your Letter of June the 28th that you are not against all imposing of Forms upon some
Persons and in some Cases Now this for ought we know may prove a pretty comfortable Concession For it does not utterly disclaim all Power in Superiors of ordering and setling these Matters And therefore let us here again inquire Who are the Persons And what are the Conditions upon which these things may or may not be imposed 1. And first for the Persons you tell me that Forms may be imposed on such as have not the Gift of Prayer by which you mean such a Readiness of Speech as to be able to pray without them This is something and I 'm glad to find that you grant Forms of Prayer necessary to help the Infirmities and to secure the Reverence of publick Worship from the Imperfections of such Men. But how shall we distinguish these weak and insufficient Men from others For many ignorant and unskilful Persons are very Opinionative and apt to think they can pray as well as the best and many times those are most forward to this Exercise who are least able to perform it For do not some suffer their Tongues to run this way without Fear or Wit to the great Scandal of Religion and Profanation of God's Name who yet are as impatient of Restraint as any and expect the same Liberty And how can this Difficulty be remov'd without a general Injunction But the Persons on whom you would not have Forms impos'd are such as have this Gift of Prayer and are as you say eminently qualified to pray without them But pray Sir consider Are not the best and ablest Men liable to many Infirmities and Imperfections that may marr the Reverence and Solemnity of publick Worship Are they not subject to many Distractions of Mind and Failures of Memory May they not be disturbed with Passions or incumbred with Cares with many other Accidents that may disorder their Thoughts and hinder the Fruitfulness of their Invention And do not even the best of Men stand in need of Forms of Prayer to prevent the bad Effects and Inconveniencies arising from these things Is not the Tongue a slippery and unruly Member when let loose And apt to run into many Indecencies and to let fall many unbecoming Expressions before we are aware This some of the wisest among you have acknowledged And is it not much better to tie it up to a Form of sound Words than hazard the venting so many rash and indigested Ones But 't is well known say you That there are many among us both Ministers and People who have an Ability of fitly expressing their Minds unto God in Prayer and tho' the Tongue may a little slip and faulter now and then yet why should they be tied up to Forms always for a few Failings that happen but seldom But Sir does it not become the Wisdom and Authority of the Church to provide as much as possible against all such Accidents That which happens sometimes may happen often especially when the Nature of the thing so easily leads to it And must not the Worship of God be secured at all times against such Indecencies Besides Is it possible think you for any to express themselves so fitly upon present Conceptions as they may upon second Thoughts and more mature Deliberation Can there be that Fulness and Comprehensiveness of Matter that Comliness of Order and Method that Decency and Fitness of Expression in an Extempore-Prayer as may be in premeditated and well-digested Forms And you know 't is but reason that God should have the best Moreover 't is not so much a Man 's expressing his own Mind that is the Business of publick Prayer but his expressing the Minds of others yea of the whole Congregation For the Minister is not to present unto God only his own private Wants and Desires but the common Needs and Desires of the People and the Joint-Devotions of the whole Church And this will require more than present and sudden Thoughts to order and offer them up as we ought So that these things considered your first Restriction of enjoining Forms of Prayer upon some Persons only is found to be both unreasonable and unpracticable 2. Let us proceed then to your second Restriction and see in what Cases and upon what Terms you allow an Injunction of publick Forms And here tho' it be not so plainly laid down yet we may guess a little at it by your frequent and bitter Complaints of Two hard Terms in the Injunction of the Liturgy viz. 1. The one is The Use that it requires the Use of all that is prescribed in it 2. The other is That it requires the Use of that and no other Now where is the Hardship of these Terms Would you have a Liturgy enjoin'd without any Obligation of using or keeping to it Or would you have a Liberty granted to every one to alter amend or add to it at pleasure It seems then you can comply with the enjoining a Liturgy provided that you are not requir'd to use all that is contain'd in it and that you may use any other thing besides it That is in effect If you may lay aside what you think fit and add to it what you please And would not this be an admirable Injunction think you But let us examine a little further into this Matter 1. First then you complain That you are required to use all and every thing contained in and prescribed by the Book of Common Prayer Sir if you would use so much of it as you well may and are satisfied in this might look like something better than a bare Pretence and that would bring you on to see the Soundness and Reasonableness of the rest But since you lay aside All and prefer your present Conceptions before any part of it 't is manifest that 't is but an empty Cavil if not a downright Falsification And yet to shew your great Tenderness I find you talking much in your Letter of June 30th of some Mens brawny Consciences and the Wideness of their Throats that can swallow All with the Straitness of your own that cannot let down so much But Sir do not some strain at a Gnat and swallow a Camel i. e. start at an innocent Ceremony or well-composed Form and at the same time swallow Schism Division Disobedience with many other crying Enormities Again I find you complaining in your Letter of June 28th That you cannot pick and chuse and use what you think fit and refuse the rest but must as Travellers on the Kings Highway keep the Road and not break out of it to escape any foul way Sir there are some Creatures so apt to wander that 't is hard to keep them in the right Way tho' it be much more safe to keep in the ancient Liege-way than to break out of it And if you meet with no worse Passages in the publick Roads than in the publick Prayers you will have little Cause to complain either of foul or rough Ways But is it fit think you for Men to
that end And this is that one Catholick Church or Body of Christ which Himself and his Apostles would have kept entire without any Schism or Division in it To which end they have left a strict Charge upon all the Members of it to Keep the Vnity of the Spirit in the bond of Peace which can only be by joyning together in one Fellowship and Communion And now what think you Sir are Christ and his Apostles to be reckon'd in the Number of Dissenters and Non-conformists Nay have they not left an Example of strict Conformity to the Jewish Church of which they were Members and shew'd an exact Compliance with all the Rights and Ceremonies not only of Divine but Humane and Ecclesiastical appointment us'd in it And will our Saviour think you approve of Rents and Dâ—ssâ—â—â—ions in the Christian Church which he hath 〈◊〉 his own Body upon the account of these things No certainly the Precepts to Unity and the Prohibition of Divisions are far more urgent under the Gospel than ever they were under the Law And how can you conceive Schism and Separation to be signs of Grace and purer Christianity when they are so directly contrary to the Rules and Precepts of both Thus you see Sir that your additional Stroaks serve but to add to the Resemblance and your compleating the Character of the Pharisees only shews you the more compleatly like them But you have something farther to say of the Pharisees Prayers and ask Whether they were by a Liturgy or not Which must be examin'd and answered in my next I am SIR Yours M. H. LETTER XVIII To J. M. SIR I Shew'd in my last that the additional Stroaks you gave to the Picture of the Pharisees did but encrease the Resemblance and what you added to compleat their Character serv'd only to make it look so much the harder upon you I proceed in this to consider what you have farther to say concerning your Prayers and here when I told That the Pharisees Prayers were remarkable for two Things viz. their length and their loudness you very fairly quarrel with both for your caviling Humour will scarce let any thing pass And therefore something must be added for the Illustration of both As for their length Our Saviour hath recorded it for a piece of their Hypocrisy Matt. 23.14 that they made long Prayers No say you 't was not the length of their Prayers but the making of them for a Pretence that is there blam'd But Sir Did not the making of them for a pretence imply an Opinion of some greater Excellency in them than in shorter Prayers Men are not wont to pretend to but hide Imperfections and if the Pharisees made these Prayers for a Shew or Pretence 't is a sign they took Prolixity for a Perfection and Ornâ—ment of their Devotion and plac'd greater Holiness and Sanctity in them that they had a value for long Prayers and valu'd themselves upon them which was the thing I observed in them As for their Lowdness we read That they pray'd in the Corners of the Street which being done for Ostentation and Vanity and before great Concourses of People Lowdness was necessary to attain their Ends and therefore as they sounded a Trumpet before their Alms that they might be seen of Men so they lifted up their Voices like a Trumpet in their Street-prayers to be heard of them But whatever becomes of the Lowdness you cannot away with blaming the length of Prayers For was not Jacob's say you a long Prayer Yea was not David's Solomon's Nehemiah's and Daniel's so Sir There are far more Examples of short than of long Prayers in Holy Scripture and we read of much greater Successes to have attended the one than the other As for the Prayers you mention the first of them was but like one of our short Collects the other like our longer Forms Compos'd for publick Fasts and Thanksgivings but none of them like the tedious long-winded Harangues of Extempore Prayer besides the former being the inspir'd Prayers of the Prophets and Dedicated by the Spirit of God upon some Solemn Occasions were both for Matter and Words sound pertinent and pithy Whereas yours proceeding from the sudden and hasty Conceptions of your own Brain are far from either being oftentimes full of Impertinences Tautologies and Unsoundness But was not the Lord 's a long Prayer say you when he continued all Night at it And the Primitive Christians spent sometimes many hours together in Prayer and some of their Fasts were Celebrated with Prayers prolong'd from the Morning of one Day to the beginning of another Sir 'T is a great Mistake to think that they spent all this time in Verbal or Vocal Prayer or that they were all this while speaking and uttering Words unto God No a great part of this time was taken up in silent and devout Soliloquies in Pious and Heavenly Meditations and the inward breathings of Mental Prayer which were very frequent and made up a great part of the Devotion of those Times As for our Saviour's continuing all Night in Prayer much of that time was doubtless spent in the secret Elevations of the Heart for we read of no other Words utter'd by him all that time but O my Father if it be possible let this Cup pass from me nevertheless not my Will but thine be done The Disciples were so far from joining with him that they slept away the greatest part of the Night however having utter'd these Words once he awoke them and pray'd again the second time O my Father if this Cup may not pass away from me except I drink it thy Will be done After which he pray'd again the third time without any variation saying the same Words And with these few unvaried Words together with many inward Sighs and Groans that cannot be utter'd he past that Night before his Sufferings with great Devotion and hereunto the Apostle alludes when he tells us of Christ's praying to his Father with strong Cries and Tears Besides Our Saviour having blam'd the Heathens for their much speaking and the Pharisees for their long Prayers he was careful not to leave behind him an Example or Encouragement of either As for what you say of the Primitive Christians spending many Hours and sometime whole Nights in Prayer and Fasting you must not think that this was always done with the Voice or the Use of Words for the ancient Fathers tell us That a great part of their Service was perform'd 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with Silence that is with the inward Motions and Desires of Mental Prayer which are oftimes more acceptable with God than the greatest multitude or variety of Words But you would have me tell you whether the Pharisees long Prayers were by a Liturgy or no And if not where is the Jewish Service that Christ and his Apostles frequented Adding That you believe we should find in those Days no other Common-Prayer-Book but the Bible Sir That the National Church
of the Jews had a publick Service that was us'd in the Temple and the Synagogues is so plainly and fully prov'd by the Learned Dr. Lightfoot that I shall need only to refer you to him Where you may read some of the set Forms that Compos'd their Liturgy together with the Order and Method of their whole Service collected from the best and ancientest of the Jewish Writers There you may learn likewise that the Religion of the Pharisees and Sadducees was not the National Religion of the Jews in which Christ and his Apostles join'd but Sects and Excrescences from it and being such we find our Saviour often reproving but never communicating with them And yet you will believe that in those Days there was no other Common-Prayer-Book but the Bible that is you will believe against all the Sense and Reason of the wisest Men and steer your Course against the stream of all Antiquity But nothing sticks so much in your Stomach as charging the Pharisees with vain Babling and you will never have done with repeating their vain Repetitions What the Mystery of this should be is somewhat hard to guess unless it be That your Prayers being charg'd with the same fault if you can clear the Pharisees Prayers from this Imputation it may help to free yours from it and set them off the better But let those take care say you how they reflect on the Pharisees who in a Morning Service do five or six times repeat the Lord's Prayer and do so often cry Lord have Mercy upon us repeating Good Lord deliver us seven or eight times in the Litany and We besech thee to hear us good Lord one and twenty times Sir Is the frequent repeating the Lord's Prayer which is the Pattern and Perfection of all our Prayers to be accounted vain Repetitions especially being us'd only upon different accounts and occasions as you may see in the Pious Page 56. and Learned Meditations of Dr. Comber who asks how we can too often join his perfect Prayer to ours that are so imperfect since by him alone both we and our Prayers become acceptable Again is all Affectionate repeating think you of the same Words to be thought vain Repetitions Is David's repeating His Mercy endureth for ever thirty six times in one Psalm to be accounted such Or is Our Saviour's saying the same Words three times in his Agony to be reckon'd in that number No certainly he that blam'd this fault in others would not be guilty of it himself For the clearing then of this Matter I must shew you what are not vain Repetitions and likewise what are such that you may the better distinguish the one from the other And First To repeat the same Words out of a deep Sense of what we have receiv'd and ardent Desires of what we ask at God's Hand is no vain Repetition thus the Psalmist feeling an inward Joy in God's Mercy and repeating it upon several Occasions was far from being vain And much less was Our Saviour's saying the same Words from a strong Desire of being heard to be esteem'd such Thus the doubling and trebling our Petitions for Mercy with Earnestness and Affection is no vain Repetition And yet this Lord have Mercy upon us is never put up but three times together which is a particular Address to each of the Persons in the Holy Trinity and our putting up one and the same Petition thrice denotes our praying to three Persons and one God and I hope you will not think this a vain Repetition Again the same Words when apply'd to different and fresh Matter is no vain Repetition thus that Form of Deprecation Good Lord deliver us which you say is repeated six or seven times in the Litany might look like a vain Repetition if it were every time apply'd to one and the same thing but being still join'd to new Matter that is some different Sin or Calamity from which we pray to be deliver'd 't is far from it And the same may be said of that Form of Supplication We beseech thee to hear us good Lord which being put up every time for some distinct Grace or Mercy cannot be reckon'd a vain Repetition Thus having shew'd you what are not vain Repetitions and likewise freed our Church-Service from them let us see what are such and how you can clear Extempore-Prayers from them Battology then or vain Repetitions is when Men think to be heard for their much speaking when too great a stress is laid upon the multitude and variety of Words And this is occaon'd by a vain Opinion That God is more pleas'd with long Prayers than short which puts Men upon lengthning their Prayers by varied Phrases to run out their Petitions into many Words and to ask the same things in new and changeable Expressions Now this naturally leads to vain Repetitions and they that too much affect this way must necessarily fall into them and this is too notorious in the Extempore Men who many times pump hard for Matter and Words and when these fail fly to the Art of Variations and piece out their Prayers with these vain Repetitions But you observe another thing of the Pharisees that is the place where they went to Pray which you say was the Temple the Synagogues and other publick Places as if the place were an infallible sign of their Purity And hereby you would resemble our Prayers to theirs Sir Our publick Places of Worship are with Our Blessed Saviour and his Apostles in the Temple and House of God Dedicated and set apart for that purpose from whence Our Blessed Saviour whip'd the Buyers and Sellers that profan'd it Whereas yours are in private Houses and Conventicles where beside other Fraud and Deceit there remain those that make Merchandize of the People and turn Hucksters of the Word of God But there is one thing more that you blame in the Prayers of the Church that is the Peoples reading half the Psalms and Hymns and saying almost half the Prayers and being the only Petitioners in the far greater part of the Litany But pray Sir why may not the People join as well in reading as in singing the Psalms and Hymns Is there any difference in these things with respect to God Or is he more pleas'd or displeas'd think you with the one than the other 'T is Superstition to think so and therefore take heed of it As for all such Prayers as relate to Ministerial Absolution Benediction Consecration or Administration of the Holy Sacraments these being peculiar to the Minister's Office are perform'd by him alone But for such other Prayers as relate to Confession of Sin the imploring of Grace and the Aids and Assistances of a good Life these concern the People as well as Priest and may be perform'd by both together to unite their Affections and encrease their Fervency Beside many Ancient Writers plainly testifie That this Alternate way of praising God was used from the Beginning and hath continued down
is it consistent say you to commend free Prayer in private and yet too affirm That upon the ceasing of Inspiration Godly Forms were appointed both for publick and private Devotion Very well Sir for in the publick Assemblies Forms are necessary that all People may know their Prayers and so Pray with the Understanding And likewise in private Families where many are to joyn Forms are expedient for the same reason and both these since the ceasing of Inspiration are best perform'd this way But in the more private and secret Devotions of the Closet free Prayer may be conveniently used because thereby every one may better descend to his own particular Wants and Failings than by any Form Compos'd by others who cannot be so well acquainted with these things as themselves So that these things rightly consider'd may very well consist together and each of them may have their proper time and place Thus Sir I have throughly consider'd all that is material in your Letters and have not willingly omitted any thing that either needs or deserves an Answer It remains that I consider what you add in the Close against the Account I gave of Bishop Wilkins and the Design of his Book which shall be done in the next In the meam time I am SIR Your Hearty Friend and Well-wisher M. H. Nov. 23d 1697. LETTER XXII SIR IN my Answer to what you alledg'd from Bishop Wilkins's Gift of Prayer I told you the Design of that Book by the Author 's own Confession was a mere Novelty and thence took Occasion to mind you of the Danger of New Inventions and Innovations in Religion Now to this You reply This is very important Doctrin Which would have kept Christianity out of the World and the Pope with all his detestable Enormities in England Sir Is Reforming think you Innovating Did our pious and learned Reformers make a New Religion or only restore the Old They were wise enough to know and distinguish between these and therefore threw aside only the Hay and Stubble which some cunning Architects had built upon the Foundation of Christianity but still kept the Old Foundation and Fabrick of it And would this have kept Christianity out of the World Yea is not this the best way to keep it in it which else would be buried and lost in Rubbish and Ruin Again Our wise Reformers cast out only the corrupt Additions and Innovations of Popery but retain'd all that was truly Ancient Primitive and Apostolical and is this the way to keep the Pope with all his detestable Enormities in England Would you have them lay aside the Gold and precious Stone together with the Hay and Stubble And having thus wisely rejected their gray-headed Novelties shall we receive Innovations of a latter Date under a Pretence of a farther Advance and Progress in Reformation This Sir is either a Cavil or a plain Mistake of the Nature and Rule of Reformation In the next Paragraph when I told you there was no Use or Need of this Artificial Gift all Christian Churches performing their publick Worship by set prescrib'd Forms To this you reply Is it not still a Wonder that this Learned Man should so far forget Antiquity and himself as to be at such Pains about an useless and needless Gift Sir That Learned Man did not so much forget Antiquity as consider the Times in which he wrote which was when a prevailing Faction had laid aside the Ancient and best Way of publick Prayer by prescribed Forms Nor was his Artificial Gift either useless or needless at that time when he took that Pains about it being perhaps the best Expedient that could be thought of to supply the Want of prescrib'd Forms and to keep up true Devotion amidst the Irreverence and great Indecencies of those Times And as for what you say of losing his Memory he not only retain'd his own but assisted others by directing to the best way of Praying when Forms were gone But how does it appear say you That that great Man saw the bad Effects of this new Experiment in Divinity and look'd upon it as an Instrument of Division Sir I hope you will allow that great Light of the Church to see that which every body else sees and knows for is there any thing more visible than that this is that Idol and Support of all our Sectaries Is not a Liturgy the great stumbling Block that keeps many weak seduced People from the Church And free Prayer the Bait that allures them to the Conventicle And are not all our Divsions founded upon and upheld by this Artificial Gift and Practice But where and when say you did he complain of or retract this Book Sir If there were no other way he effectually did it by his own Practice which is a far better way of doing it than any Words or Writings For Actions speak louder than Words Men may and often do speak one thing and think another and their Practices are a plain Confutation of their Principles but Actions seldom lye and the Course of Mens Lives are the best and truest Indication of their Minds Now did not this great Man upon the Restauration of the Church plainly abandon this Art which shew'd his Sense of the Imperfection of it and betook himself to the Use of the publick Liturgy which shew'd that his Judgment carried him to that as much better This you cannot deny without disparaging the Memory of that great Man nor grant without disparaging this Artificial Gift which is a Strait I must leave you to get out of as well as you can But the Design of this worthy Man say you was not merely to help the Memory but to excite the Affections improve the Judgment and promote the Consolation and Edification of Christians And there is no doubt to be made of this for his helping the Memory by mental Forms when Book-Forms were remov'd was chiefly to promote those ends viz. to assist them to pray heartily and affectionately with Judgment and to the Edification of themselves and others And to this end advis'd them against long and varied Prayers to prevent Tautologies Impertinences and all unseemly Expressions in this Exercise Moreover he would not have them tie themselves precisely to one particular Form of Words tho' of their own composing so as to deny themselves any Liberty of using another or adding to that but to furnish themselves with Matter and Words for various Emergencies so as to be able to add or alter as Occasion should require And could the Wisdom of Man direct to a better Method for Piety and Devotion in those bad times But 't is sometimes say you not so much the Evidence of Truth as the Revolutions of Times that alter Mens Practice c. Take heed Sir for this if applied to this great Man as here without great Impertinence it must be will disparage his Memory to purpose by making him a Time-server and one that steer'd his Course as the Temptations of prosperous and adverse Times led him Which is enough to destroy the Credit both of the Author and the Book and put all Men out of Conceit with his variable Gift What you say and quote touching his Moderation is consider'd in another Letter to which I refer you To what I added in the Close that we may better estimate Mens Opinions by the Practice of their latter and wiser Age than the Rawness of younger Years You reply That some who have been sound and hopeful in their Youth have extreamly degenerated in their riper Years and from a great Zeal to the Church and Liturgy have fallen into a great Luke-warmness oâ— Apostacy from both But Sir Is there any Rule without an Exception May it not be reasonably hop'd and suppos'd that the Generality of Men should grow wiser and better as they grow older And that the Gravity and Experience of Age should correct the Rashness and Vanity of their Youth Tho' it must be granted That too many either by Weakness of Judgment or Strength of Prejudice or Power of bad Habits and Customs or Byass of Interest or other corrupt Inclinations and Designs may be found to do otherwise But I hope you will not here again disparage the Memory of this great Man by making him one of this Number For a Close of all I must upon an Impartial Review of the whole leave it to the Judgment of the Candid Reader and your own serious Consideration how much you might grow wiser and better by following the Example of this great Man which was and still is the hearty Wish and Advice of SIR Your Cordial Friend and Well-Wisher M. H. FINIS
Bishops very frequently and profitably employ'd this way Your next Commendation of those Reverend Fathers is their Temper and Moderation in Ecclesiastical Matters Now this if rightly understood is an Excellent Vertue and a very useful and necessary Qualification of all Governors both in Church and State But how frequently this is mistaken and mis-apply'd I shew'd you in a former Letter on that Subject and I fear we shall find something of it in the present Case as may be easily gather'd from what you relate of these great Men concerning the Discipline and Prayers of the Church For the better clearing whereof you must Note That 't was the misfortune of those two great Prelates to live in very bad Times when the Liturgy and Episcopacy of both which they were strong Asserters were laid aside and thereby both the ancient Worship and Discipline of the Church turn'd out of Doors now those two Pious and Learned Bishops not only lamented the miserable Rents and Ruins made in the Church by this means but endeavour'd to repair and keep up as much of it as in that broken State of things they could And this was the occasion of that Model of Primitive Episcopacy drawn up by Arch-bishop Vsher of which you make so frequent mention and the same was the occasion of that Moderator mention'd by Bishop Hall to supply the place of the Bishop the design of both which was to preserve so much of the Power and Jurisdiction belonging to the Primitive Order of Bishops as those unhappy Times would admit of and like Men in a Storm when they could not save all to save as much as they might Now this Sir proceeded not from any such coldness and indifferency towards the Order as you vainly imagine and miscal Moderation but from an earnest and affectionate Zeal to preserve and continue it As for what you alledge from Bishop Hall's complaining of your Faults of Consistorial Officers that was design'd not to remove but reform their Courts to take away all just Exceptions against them that the People might be the better reconcil'd to the Order and yield the more ready Obedience to the Authority and Jurisdiction annex'd to it for if you would have Courts of Justice laid aside for the Abuses of some Under-officers in them you might soon reform away all Civil as well as Ecclesiastical Courts Thus having shew'd you the Judgment of those two Reverend Prelates concerning the Government of the Church You would have me next consider Bishop Hall's Sentiments as to Prayer and here you grant that as he us'd so he vindicated the Liturgy but you never met with a Word say you to justifie the imposing it and no other in plublick Prayer Sir Hath not the Liturgy been impos'd ever since the Reformation and no other for publick Worship And was it not the design of that Bishop in his Vindication of it to perswade all People to use and joyn in it as so impos'd Is not the faithful and constant reading of the Prayers one main Article of enquiry in all Episcopal Visitations And did this Pious Bishop think you neglect so weighty a Part and Duty of his Office No Sir he very diligently and devoutly us'd the Liturgy himself and strictly kept his Clergy to it till the Iniquity of the Times put an unwelcome stop to both from whence he betook himself to conceiv'd Forms of Prayer to supply the want of the other the only expedient to fly to in those perilous Times That this was his Practice you may gather from his own Words for he tells us that he us'd the same liberty in Prayer that he did in Preaching so that as his Sermons were Compos'd so were his Prayers too That the former were so the Elegance and Exactness of them may easily satisfie you and that he took as much care in speaking to God in Prayer as he did to the People in Preaching you may learn from the Reverence he still bore to the Divine Majesty which kept him to Solomon's Advice of not being rash with his Mouth or hasty to utter any thing before God So that for your Extemporary Effusions or pouring out present and sudden Conceptions we never find it us'd or commended by him And is it wise or fit think you to alledge the Salvo's and Expedients of bad Times for Precedents in good ones and to make Cases of Necessity Rules of Duty and Practice when that Necessity ceases 'T was the Grief of those Pious and Learned Prelates to see those woful Breaches made in the Government and Service of the Church which they labour'd to their uttermost to prevent and heal and had they liv'd to see Episcopacy restor'd to its full Power and the Liturgy to its ancient Use and Practice they would no doubt have Blessed God for that happy Day and with good Old Simeon sung their Nunc Dimittis and would then willingly depart in Peace when their Eyes had seen the Church setled again in Peace upon the Ancient and Primitive Foundation But the good Bishop Hall say you was no Flatterer of the Times No Sir the Hardships and Sufferings he underwent by them plainly shew him to be no favourer or flatterer of those Times His steady Zeal to the King and the Church kept him from all base Compliances with the Enemies of both But You bring a very awkard Argument to prove his Integrity This is omitted in the Print taken from some passionate Speeches that past between him and another Prelate that was after his Metropolitan which is rather a Blemish than Ornament to his Reputation and shews what a worthy commender you are of Good Men to single out the worst Passages of their Lives to preserve their Memory and to make use of their Failings to adorn their Character But you would fain know how it comes to pass That conceiv'd Prayer should be so pious and useful a thing in Private and yet so pernicious and dangerous a Device when us'd in Publick Sir The Reason hereof is obvious for conceiv'd Prayer in the retirements of Closet where they are shut up from the Eyes and Ears of others can have no Vanity or Worldly design in it but being transacted only between God and the Soul is generally an Argument and Instance of great Sincerity and here the broken Sighs and Language of a Contrite Heart prove oftentimes the most prevailing Oratory Whereas the pouring out many and new Words in publick may be and often is accompanied with Ostentation and other Secular Ends. You know the Pharisees made such long Prayers for a pretence to be heard and seen of Men the better to carry on their Rapine and Oppressions and too many use them still for a Shew of greater Sanctity and a Cloak to hide their viler Practices You cannot be ignorant that this way of Praying hath been and still is a great Instrument and Occasion of Division and is made the principal Device of all Teachers to draw Disciples after them But how