ipsum implorent illius misericordiam Junius in Loc. Zach. But why all this may not be as well in a petitioner that prays in a set forme as in him who pretends to the Spirit and yet utters so much cold and low stuff on a sudden no wise man can imagin Compare but these extempore raptures with the words of Moses David and Asaph the Seer with the prayers intercessions Hymns and Psalms of the Servants and Prophets and holy men of God uttered and left upon record and then it will be easie to put the difference betwixt those who are truly taught by the Spirit and those who presume to be taught For from the one hath proceeded prayers and supplications and forms of thanksgiving so high and admirable that they are beyond imitation from the other a shower of words so flat so jejune so confused so unsignificant that sometime they passe all understanding Will you but have patience to hear the Censure of Brown himself after his conversion Bancroft ser preach'd 1588. who thus speaks to his friends concerning their extempore prayers Good God what worship or prayer do you use I am asham'd to name the boldnesse and folly of some who scarce able to utter three words orderly will yet take upon them to babble out a tedious long and stuttering prayer wherein every tenth word shall be the repeating of O heavenly Father O merciful Father O dear Father O good Lord O merciful God c. and all things so foolishly pack'd together that their prayer seems rather the lisping and prattling of an infant that would tell a great tale could he hit of it then the petition of a zealous devout soul to his God These are the words of Brown the Patriarch and woful experience doth justifie him for in many Extemporaries the matter of the prayer is so indigested the words so incongruous the periods so broken and interrupted the length so tedious the Tautologies so many that a mean capacity may be apt to say The prayer was never dictated by the Spirit To break off from this to pray by the Spirit is two ways taken Either for prayers made by the assistance of the Spirit and so they which use premeditated prayers or set forms may pray by the Spirit as well as others for the Spirit assists in the premeditation and in the delivery Or else to pray by the Spirit is to pray by the immediate inspiration of the Spirit as the Prophets and Apostles spoke and wrote and thus neither they who now use set forms nor yet they who pray extempore can be said to pray for then their prayers should be of equal authority with the Psalms of David and Asaph and other prayers set down and taught by divine inspiration And it seemes that wisdome is the daughter of time for even they in whose mouths there were no other prayers lawful but extempore have now perswaded and commended to their proselytes the Practice of Piety and advised them to make use of those set formes in their devotions which I am sure will as much stint the spirit as any Collect in the Liturgy 2. But I leave the old Prophets and that which occasioned this discourse and come to the Christian Church Christ did not onely use himself a set forme of words in prayer but three times together used the same words Mat. 26. Luk. 11. Saint John Baptist taught his disciples to pray and it cannot be conceived but it was in a set forme for two reasons For had he said to them the Spirit shall teach you then he had not taught them but the Spirit Secondly a forme sure it was that the disciples came to be taught to pray as John taught his disciples and upon it Christ prescribed them a forme When you pray say In Matthew indeed it is When you pray say thus but in Saint Luke where the forme is prescribed say This Our Father c. It seemes he meant it not onely as a patterne but as a forme it self as the standard-bushel is not onely a measure of all bushels but may it self be used which precept no man can with a good conscience obey that holds all set formes of necessity to be cast out of the Church August epist 59. Tertull. in exposit orationis dominicae And therefore the ancient Churches began and concluded their Liturgies with it This Tertullian calls Legitima oratio and affirms that this being premised men have liberty to adde other petitions praemissa legitima ordinaria oratione quasi fundamento accidentium jus est desideriorum jus est extruendi extrinsecas petitiones His words are very material This prayer is lawful and legitimate this is ordinary it must be premised it must be the foundation of our petitions and this being laid then a man may lay his right and claime upon it to build other desires other petitions And as the Ancients would begin with it so also they had a care to end with it also it being a comprehensive prayer Directory Perkins on the Lords prayer that whatsoever might be defective in the rest this might complete it And this again is the most powerful eloquence to draw God to audience Could we speak with the tongues of men and Angels yet certainly our petitions cannot finde so easie an entrance into our heavenly Fathers ears as when we tender them in his Sons own words This was the judgment both of Cyprian and Chrysologus Qui fecit vivere docuit orare ut dum prece oratione quam filius docuit apud patrem loquimur audiamur agnoscit filii sui verba Cyprian de orat dominicae cum precem facimus in dictandis precibus vota supplicum praevenit Adde to this a man is bound to say Amen at the end of a prayer now a man may much scruple whether he is bound to say Amen to such a prayer which he hath not time to weigh which he hath not time to consider For put case that he who takes upon him to speak unto you in the Name of God Chrysologus in eadem shall teach some false doctrine or covertly deliver unto the people some errour and after pray that God would blesse the seed which he hath sown is it not dangerous to joyne with him in his desires Such a thing may possibly fall out And this inconvenience is quite removed partly by subjoyning this prayer partly by using those forms the Church hath enjoyned to which a man may upon deliberation say Amen But this is not the sole example we have in the New Testament patterns for set formes The Apostle nine times reiterates the same words The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all And to put the matter out of doubt the Saints for their victory over the Beast sang the triumphal song as Moses and the Israelites sang of old when they were delivered from the Egyptians No marvail if the same benefit be celebrated with
pious performances as stinted worship Quiristers singing of Psalms with all the Rubrique postures I could forgive you the rest because you acknowledge these performances to be pious for if they had piety in them I see no reason why you or any body else have cause to note them for corruptions But when I came to this place I entred into debate with my self which part of Solomons counsel I should take whether I should answer or not answer Not to answer Dr. Bancroft Featly Hammond Fulke Taylour Hooker Prideaux Preston might give you occasion to boast I could not And to answer was to say over again that which hath been so often sayd by worthy and learned men whom if you have not consulted you are to blame and I wish you would if you have and are not satisfied I fear my labour will be lost However I shall set before you what they have said before me And first I shall speak to your stinted worship 1. And here give me leave first to ask you to what you referre this word stinted whether you strictly restrain it to the word worship or to the Spirit by which we are to worship If to the first I see you are against all set forms of worship if to the last that you think the Spirit is restrained by these set forms And because both are said by your party I shall answer to both and to the last first These conceiv'd forms are either premeditate or extempore if premeditate then the Spirit is as much limited in their conceiv'd forms as by any forme conceiv'd by the Church But if extempore then the Spirit only of him that makes the prayer is left at liberty for the whole Congregation is by that means as much stinted and bound to a set forme to wit of those words the Minister conceivs as if he read them out of a book And is not the Spirit restrain'd when the Congregation shall be confined to the forme of this one mans composing If this be not stinted worship if this be not to stint the Spirit I know not what it is And I can see but one way to avoid it that every one in the Congregation conceive and offer up a prayer with his own spirit and not be forced and confin'd to the Ministers single dictate this would preserve entirely that liberty of the Spirit you pretend that other will not To this if you will not yield as I know you will not it lies upon you to answer the objection which I never saw yet done 2. As for set forms of prayer which I conceive you principally intend by stinted worship I shall next endeavour to justifie them upon many grounds 1. In the old Testament we find set forms of blessing and thanksgiving and prayers appointed by God himself He it was that fram'd to his Priests the very words with which they were to blesse the people Numb 6.23.24 25 26. Numb 10.35.36 2 Chron. 29.30 Exod. 15. Selden in Eutychium Speak to Aaron and his Sonnes saying in this wise shall ye blesse the people The Lord blesse and keep thee c. At the remove of the Arke a forme is set and taught the Priests exurgat Deus dissipentur inimici At the Arks return a form Return O Lord into thy resting place Hezekiah prescribed to the Priests to sing praise to the Lord with the words of David and Asaph the Seer Moses Hymn for the overthrow of Pharaoh is extant and in the same chapter taken up and sung by Miriam which afterward grew a part of the Jewish ordinary Church Liturgy for such they had being instituted by Ezra and the Consistory What should I tell you that the 92. Psalm is a Psalm compos'd for the Sabbath The 20. Psalm to be sung by the people when the King went forth to battaile The 113. to the 118. the great Hallelujah 13. whole Psalms or as some say 15. viz. from 119. to 134. Songs of degrees Moller Ames Musculut in Ps 21. because upon every one of the steps which were 15. betwixt the peoples court and the Temple the Priests made a stay and sung one of these Psalms and the 21. Psalm composed by David to be sung by the people for the King when he came home with victory Yea but say some this was in the infancy and minority of the Church as children then they needed their Festra's as infirm bodies their crutches but now under the Gospel it is otherwise we have more light and gifts of the Spirit than they had True more light we have because the Mystery kept secret from the beginning of the world is more clearly revealed to us then it was to them but that 's not the question prove they should if they speak to the purpose that we have now more ability to compose a prayer then they had more of the Spirit of Grace and supplications Men may have a high conceit of their own abilities but I suppose no wise man will conceive but that Aaron and his sonnes Moses and the Priests Hezekiah and the Levites had as great an ability to pray ex tempore as great a measure of the Spirit of grace and supplications as any man that now lives and yet they used and prescribed set forms Their minority then was in respect of the object of faith not in respect of the spirit of supplications These men therefore shew themselves children to talke of Festra's and cripples in their understanding to talk of crutches since those mens legs were far stronger then theirs and their graces of the Spirit far beyond any Enthusiasts in these days We may think of these forms as meanly as we please but Chrysostome was of another judgement Chrysost Hom. 1. of prayer for thus he begins one of his Homilies of prayer For two reasons it becomes Gods servants to wonder and blesse him both for the hope we have in their prayers and that preserving in writing the Hymns and Orisons they offer'd to God with fear and joy they have deliver'd to us their treasure that so they might draw all posterity to their zeale and imitation Yea but the Spirit must teach us to pray it helps all our infirmities 't is the promise of God to his Church I will poure upon them the Spirit of Grace and supplications Zach. 12.10 And all this may be done in a set forme as well as by any extempore prayer True it is the Spirit must teach us to pray both for matter and forme for we know not what to ask and must teach us how to pray for we know not how to ask zeal and fervour and faith and perseverance and importunity all necessary affections in every supplicant are gifts of the Spirit and groans and sighs proceed from the Spirit he moves the heart first to supplicate brings a man to see in what a wretched case he is one that by his sins hath pierced the Son of God therefore to deprecate ask pardon deprecentur
much offended hereafter with it I could put you in minde of the consecration of Solomons Temple 1. Reg. 8. but I know you will say that was Jewish though it be an exception of no moment I shall therefore bring to your remembrance an older example which hath nothing of the Ceremonial Law in it The first that erects a fabrick to Gods service is the Patriarch Jacob and very Ceremonious he was about it He takes the stone whereon he slept Gen. 28.20 21 22. makes it as it were the first stone of the building then pours oyle upon the top of it as the consecration calls it Bethel Gods house and endows it too vowing the tenth of all he had A place we have here separated to Gods use by a Religious Ceremony a Dedication a Consecration a Dotation and I doubt not but the equity of the Law which prevailed with him will also justifie us in the like case Under Severus Gordian Philippus Arabs Euseb l. 8.1 2. lib. 10.2 and Galienus the Christian ability growing greater and their liberty enlarged they built spacious Churches These the bloody Dioclesian threw down and good Constantine gave leave to reaedifie where no Ceremony was omitted that might honour such intents The Celebration of Dedications and Consecration of Oratories lately builded was the desired spectacle of those times to which Prince and people people and Clergy resorted and some with Orations some with Sermons and some with the sacrifices of prayer in an Assembly of the greatest part of the Bishops solemnized that happy day You may at your leisure read a whole Sermon extant in Eusebius directed to Paulinus Bishop of Tyre lib. 10. c. 4. by whose means that famous Temple in Phaenicia was builded and consecrated in a solemn manner The story accompts of the day of Consecration as of a wedding solemnity when the new erected Church as a Virgin was joyned fast in the bands of Matrimony by the Bishops prayers and office unto her Lord Christ I could adde to this that the same Constantine so often as he was forced into the Field in Arms to encounter his enemies carried along with him a Consecrated Tent which he set up and spread in the fashion of a Church in that place he did castrametari that in that with his Army he might offer his devotions to his God To Consecrate is no new word nor to be disliked for it signifies no more than to depute to a sacred use and dedicate and assign to God whether times persons things To draw to an end there ought to be among Christians scarce 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 any thing common or profane A kind of Consecration passeth upon all we have Our 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 our income is not profane that is consecrated by a Collection set apart for the Saints Our meat nor our drink are not profane things 1 Cor. 16. 1 Tim. 4.5 Mal. 3.8 ad 12. when they are Consecrated by the Word and Prayer Our goods are not then profane when Gods part is set aside Our selves our Children are Consecrated to God by Baptisme and so of profane become holy persons And shall the Church then in which we are to render our thanks for all these and to pray for a blessing upon these want its Consecration by the Word and Prayer for other Consecration we allow none It hath often put me into an astonishment to finde out the cause why you should dislike these places because Consecrated and at last I could finde no other except this that you would not be bound to put off your shooes nor to take heed to your feet when you entred into the house of God Exod. 3.5 Eccles 5.1 but left at liberty to use other homely familiar gestures If any guesse be right in this place I shall say little to it only remember you that the Publican who entred the Temple and stood afarre off and smote his breast thrived better than the Pharisee in his loftier garb for he went home to his house justified Luke 18.14 3. The third was of National persons as Universal Preachers Office-Priests Half-Priests or Diocesan Deacons TO this my answer shall be in brief that among the Jews I finde no Universal Preacher no Office-Priest no Half Priest no Diocesan Deacon and therefore these among us could not be taken up by imitation from the Jews Priests indeed they had but no more like ours than an apple is like a nut Similitudes in general make but a poor resemblance Men and mettals may be all one this way Secondly I reply that against Universal Preachers you of all others have least reason to take exception because you allow all that have gifts to be so Millers Mercers Thatchers Weavers Trunck-makers and who not for of such consist the greatest body of your Itinerants upon whom what name can you more aptly put than Universal Preachers since they are not confined to any one flock A Sermon preached by a Presbyt Anno 1589. pag. 27. 28. Concerning whom let me return you the words of one of your opinion whose name is to me unknown in a godly Sermon preached and printed Anno 1589. Alasse must we not look for the heavy hand of the Lord when we see many ignorant men not onely void of all skill in the Hehrew Greek and Latine Tongues in Logick Rhetorick and other Arts but also which I am ashamed to speak not acquainted with the true Doctrine of Repentance who are yet so bold so impudent and of so hard faces that they dare to extend and stretch out I will not say their gifts which they have not nor the shadow of a gift to take upon them the high Message of God to carry to his people the glad-tydings of salvation which Christ hath purchased for them with his precious blood Oh shamelesse impudency shall he take upon him to hold the Helme that is scarce worthy to labour at the Pump O damnable boldnesse O wretched covetousnesse That for an Annual stipend will undertake so sacred a work O foolish men that will commend them whom they ought to dispraise O miserable that lift up those to Moses Chair who ought rather to be thrust to the tail of the Plough What doth more dishonour God discredit the Gospel confirme the Adversaries of the Truth than this ignorance and boldnesse of your Universal Preachers For I beseech you tell me can the honour and praise of Gods Wisdome be commended by the folly and ignorance of his Minister Can the inestimable treasure and riches of a gracious Prince be seen in the beggarly nakedness of a base Embassadour Can the Adversaries of the grace of Christ by looking upon an Idol which hath nothing but a shew of that it is not be disswaded from the worship of Idols Can he bring men from Errour that knows not when he teacheth Truth Finally can the carnal minded Atheist be perswaded that Christ is the Redeemer of the World whose Ministers these be
the same song In these passage Revel 15.3 Bright in lec of holy Scripture we have set formes of prayer somewhere commended somewhere commanded somewhere used somewhere reiterated and all inspired by the holy Ghost and therefore certainly the use of them can be no quenching of the holy Spirit whom we finde to enflame our hearts in rehearsal of these sacred formes 3. And in the last place if we look upon the custome of Gods people find we shall that in all places and in all ages they have made use of publique set and sanctified forms of prayer Hâ—gesippus an ancient writer one that was near the Apostles times writes that St. James chosen Bishop of Jerusalem by the Apostles themselves for a forme of service or common prayer compos'd by him for that Church yet extant was call'd Jacobus Liturgus To omit Justin Martyr in whom I find 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Common prayers and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 prescribed prayers in Origen Just Mart. Apol 2. Orig. lib. 6. contr Cels Cypr. in Orat. dominicae Perk. resut of the real presence Fox Mart. fol. 1275. In Cyprian we find the Priest before prayer using this Preface Sâ—rsum corda and the people answering habemus ad Dominum which forme as Perkins confesses was used in all Liturges of the ancient Church This then was no rag of Rome but as Mr. Fox truly saith was borrowed from the Greek not the Latin Church Which is so true that the Centurists confesse that in the blessed Martyr Cyprians dayes without all doubt formulas quasdum precum habuerunt Be pleased to look in the latter end of my Catechisme where you shall finde the old Lyturgies cited to that purpose And as Christianity begun more and more to flourish so were the Fathers of the Church careful that the people should not be destitute of these excellent means to serve God the Bishops for their several Diocesses composing their Liturgies Basil for Cappodocia and those parts Chrysostome for Constantinople and the Greek Church under his jurisdiction Ambrose for Milan Gregory and Isidore for the Westerne Churches all which are extant to this day and out of these and some more ancient attributed to the Apostles themselves all the famous and known Churches of the world have composed their 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and we among the rest so that it was no vaine brag which Arch-bishop Cranmer made that if he might be admitted to call Peter Martyr and four or five more unto him he would make it appear that the same forme of worship which was set forth in the Book of Common Prayer had continued for substance even then one thousand five hundred years and give me leave to adde this to the honourable burial of it since it must be buried that before it was authorized and published in that beauty we lately saw it it went under the file fifteen times And by what men even by those who many of them sealed the truth of it with their blood in the fire It should seeme about those former times when those Liturgies were first published there were some so wedded to their own fancies that they preferred their own conceptions before the Churches Ordinances and yet they came not to that brain-sick-fancie as to bring into the Church extempore prayers Angry they were not with set formes but displeased because they might not make them And against these two famous Councels have provided Concil Laod. Ca. 18. Can. 159. Concil Mil. c. 12. Caranza legit comprobatae first that of Laodicea 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ad horam nonam vesperum celebretur 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And in Africa the Milevitan Councel more expressely Placuit ut preces orationes quae probatae fuerunt in Concilio ab omnibus celebrentur nec aliae omnino dicantur in Ecclesia nisi quae à prudentioribus tractatae vel compositae in Synodo fuerunt sufficiently divised considered or approved by the wiser men and allowed in a Synod and the reason which the Councel addes is most essectual ne forte aliquid contra fidem vel per ignorantiam vel per minus studium sit compositum Which is the very reason that Master Selden one of the last Assembly gives for the Jewish Liturgy from Ezra's time Seldens notes in Eutychium The Jews saith he about the end of the Babylonish Captivity had their ancient manners as well as language so depraved that without a Master they either were not able to pray as they ought or had not confidence to do it And therefore that for the future they might not recede either in the matter of their prayers through corruption or expression through ignorance from that forme of piety commanded by God this remedy was applyed by the men of the great Synagogue Ezra and his one hundred and twenty Colleagues out of which words Doctor Hammond makes this collection Ham. viero of the Direct Sect 15. That one special use and benefit of a set forme is not onely to provide for the ignorance but to be a hedge to the true Religion to keep out all mixtures and corruptions out of a Church To this purpose 't is no newes to tell you that all reformed Churches abroad have some forme of worship or other that Master Knox in Scotland composed a Liturgy for that Church That those zealous brethren who were so earnest for Reformation in Queen Elizabeths dayes Anno 1585. though they complained to the Lord Burleigh against the Church Common Prayer-book yet professed they were not against Liturgy and 't is evident they were not by the composing of two formes one year after another And here I cannot choose but put you in minde of a passage of Master Cartwright which I have seen in a little Manual of his in answer to one that charg'd him as an enemy to set formes To which his reply was that he was so farre from this conceit that if any were pleased to come to Coventry where he then did preach and hear his Lectures they should before and after his Sermons hear the same prayers used by him except that portion of Scripture upon which he insisted gave him occasion to adde some few words I shall shut up this point with the judgement and practice of Master Calvin Calvin epist ad Protect his judgement he hath fully declared in his Epistle to the Protectour then Quod ad formulam precum c. As for formes of Prayers and Ecclesiastical rites I very much approve that it be set or certain From which it may not be lawful for the Pastours in their function to depart that so there may be provision made for the simplicity and unskilfulnesse of some and that the consent of all the Churches among themselves may more certainly appear and lastly also that the extravagant levity of some who affect novelties may be prevented Thus he And his practice is evident The Liturgy by him composed for Geneva being yet extant I
the dead especially tended For which purpose let any man of a reasonable judgment consider whether it be more convenient to bring a dead Corps in a dumb show to the grave and cover it with earth then to hear those Lessons and Psalms sounded in their ears that may put them in minde of their estate and condition both now and hereafter At that time our hearts softned with mourning are become more malleable and the Lessons then heard and exemplified by the sight of our departed brother may make the deeper impression Say then there were no more but this in it viz. a discharge from the imputation of rudenesse and incivility which Christianity teacheth no man to those bodies which shall have their part in the resurrection yet I see no cause why these exiquies should be so cast aside reviled imputed to us David himself followed the Beire of Abner and lift up his voice and wept at the grave of Abner and the King lamented over Abner and said dyed Abner as a fool dieth 2 Sam. 3.31 32 33 34. c. where we have not a dumb shew but words of commendation expressed over the dead I never conceived that the mourning for Jacob at the threshing floor of Atad was a silent spectacle seven dayer it continued Gen. 50.10 11 and there they mourned with a great and very sore lamentation insomuch that the Canaanites called the place Abel-Mizraim Now that such mournings may be accompanied with words is evident by the Lamentations of Jeremy which was composed as it were a Funeral Sermon for the good King Josiah For Jeremy lamented for Josiah 2 Chr. 35.25 and all the singing men and singing women spake of Josiah in their Lamentations to this day and made them an Ordinance in Israel and behold they are written in the Lamentations God never ordained that his servants should be laid in their graves with the burial of an asse And the fear that some men conceive that we be thought to pray to or for them over whom or near whose Hearse or toward whom we thus pray is a mormo fit to scare children When 't is sufficiently testified even by the prayers set out to be then read that we pray not for the dead but comfort the living with hope of the resurrection and expectation of the consummation of all things 7. Idol-sureties of Godfathers and Godmothers Of the antiquity and benefit of these sureties Godfathers and Godmothers I have said sufficient in my Catechisme pag. 11. whether I refer you But now I wonder why you should call them Idol-sureties If you had only noted them for their idlenesse and carelessenesse in that they take so little care for the Religious education of those for whom the Church accepts them as sureties I would not have gain-said you but lamented it But that you make them Idols is unsufferable for what is an Idol it is nothing in the world a meer invention and fiction of mans brain set up to be an object of adoration and were these brought in for any man to worship what child was ever encouraged to adore his Godfathers and Godmothers But to make the best of it the calmest meaning of this odious word can be but this that many have given these an higher estimation than they deserve So you have done to many things to Preaching to Ruling Elders to your Combinational Church to your Ministerial Pulpit and yet I know it would sound very harsh in your ears if we should fix the name of Idol before them How would you storme to hear of Idol-preaching Idol-Elders Idol-Combinational Church Idol-Ministerial-Pulpit And yet there is as much reason for the one as the other For if the estimation of any thing beyond that it ought will presently make it an Idol you have made Idols of all these and so are equally guilty of Idolatry with us 8. Or groundlesse application of publick or private Baptisme unto the infants of profane parents Mr. Matthews and if none but Christs faithful friends and followers were admitted to be fed or physick'd at his supper feast The Reply That this popular exception put in as a a bar of applying the Sacraments to infants of Christians and other persons may be removed necessary it is that we fetch our principles farther then at the first view may seem requisite for we must look as farre as Abraham when God renewed his Covenant with man the words are I will establish my Covenant betwixt me and thee and thy seed after thee in their generations for an everlasting Covenant Gen. 17.7 to be a God to thee and to thy seed after thee That is whereas other Nations have their several gods yet I will be thy God thou shalt have no other Gods but mâ— and I will be a God unto thee for I will reveal my will unto thee according to which thou oughtest to live for I will write it in thy heart Heb. 8.10 11. Secondly I will pardon thy transgressions and be merciful to thy unrighteousnesse and sinnes ver 12. Thirdly I will give grace or strength which though it may not enable thee to live without sinning yet such as is sufficient to performe what is necessary under this Covenant Rom. 10.8 Deut. 30.11 14. This Covenant I make with thee but not with thee only but with thy seed Now can we but know who was this seed we might easily discern to whom this Covenant doth extend In the primary sense thereof it was Christ Gen. 3.15 Gal. 3.16 For this Covenant was made in Christ sealed in his blood and in him made Yea and Amen verifyed and ratifyed Secondly thy seed takes in all men whether Jew or Gentile as Saint Paul evidently proves Rom. 4. For Abraham had two kind of sonnes ex carne or ex fide of the flesh and under the Law as the Jews Rom. 4.8 9. of faith and under the regiment of the Spirit as the Gentiles also For is this blessing come on the circumcision onely or the uncircumcision also For we say that faith was reckoned to Abraham for righteousnesse and that it was reckoned so to him when he was in uncircumcision evident it is that it belonged to the uncircumcised as the Apostle argues The Covenant we see and with whom it is made Abraham and with his seed the Jew and to all that are a farre off even as many as the Lord our God shall call as Saint Peter openeth the promise Acts 2 39. Now let us see upon what conditions this Covenant was made with Abraham that is expressed also Gen. 17.1 Walk before me and be thou perfect which is also required of all his seed if they mean to have benefit by the Covenant They then are to walk before God in faith and obedience as Abraham did and be perfect not that either can be exact and perfect in this life but it is required by this Covenant that we become new creatures renewed in sincere honest and faithful obedience to the
then that you here mention must be a greater abomination than any one or indeed all the particulars you before mentioned or else your Yet was not considerately placed What the justling out a Pulpit and placing a Pue instead of it a greater offence than admitting profane persons to the Lords Table what this a stronger plea of Apostacy than the Common service book what is it to tithe mint and annise and cummin and to let passe the great and weightier matters of the Law if this be not it doth God take care for Oxen is he pleased or displeased with Pues with Pulpits with Elders seats No question it is all one with him in what part of the Church or by whom they are set 'T is the inward man of the heart that he looks upon as for these outward accoutrements of his service he hath entrusted to the hands and heads of discreet men And methinks you of all others should least insist upon them who are so great enemies to all outward worship or what may be ordained by men for the decency and order of that worship 2. Farther I think you have misplaced your Epithites and bestowed them on wrong subjects for it were far truer to say the Monarchical Pulpit and the Ministerial Pue for whatsoever was done in the Pue was but meerly Ministerial but since you have invaded and ingrossed the Pulpit you thence dictate and dogmatize like the violent Monarch you before named Thence you damne whomsoever you please I have heard this black sentence thence pronounced that all the old Clergy are frying in an iron grate in hell that they that wil not come to hear you do tread under foot the blood of the Son of God and make a mock of him and thence again you save whom you please as if all the Legislative power were in your hands what you deliver from thence be it never so crude and indigested stuff you call the Gospel of the Kingdome the very Word of God News from Ipswich Apologista c. 3. A man would think you were inclining very far to that opinion of the Apologist for the Jesuites who saith jungantur in unum dies cum nocte tenebrae cum luce calidum cum frigido sanitas cum morbo vita cum morte erit tum spes aliqua posse in caput Jesuitae haeresin cadere I ever took Sermons and so do still to be most necessary expositions and applications of the holy Scripture and a great ordinary means of saving knowledge but I cannot think them or the Preachers of them out of a Pulpit divinely infallible And it may be observed too that no men are more apt to say then they that all the Fathers were but men and might erre and if then they be not transcended the condition of men when they are ascended the Pulpit possible it is that they may erre too But to proceed what an Idol pardon the word it is from your own shop when you call the Liturgy Idol-service and the sureties in Baptisme Idol Godfathers have they made of the Pulpit ever since from thence they dispense all their Administrations The child to be baptized by the Minister in the Pulpit the Sacrament to be sent by the hand of the Deacon to all the Congregation out of the Pulpit The Word and all the prayer then used out of the Pulpit and whether the censures be to be pronounced out of the Pulpit Bayly pag. 121.122 I yet know not So that if there were any sense at all to be collected out of this word Monarchical I should rather attribute it to the Pulpit than to the Pue which I am sure was never guilty of any Monarchy 3. And since we are entred into a comparison of the Pue and Pulpit I shall adde one consideration more which I professe to you I do very unwillingly it having been known to you and others that I have been as industrious in the Pulpit as any other in the Pue The Pue and Pulpit are in themselves inanimate things wood and stone no prerogative can accrue to either from them if there be any priority it must be from the actions that were performed from thence In the Pue we had the Liturgy of the Church celebrated in the other the Word of God explained and pressed on the conscience for practce by the tongues of men if then I would contend for any priviledge of either I should give it to the Pue because in that was celebrated cultus ipse which is the prayers in the other is held forth no more but doctrina cultus a doctrine which teacheth us to worship God in the one there is exercised only actus imperatus a command is only laid upon us do this but in the other there is actus elicitus for we choose to practice what we have been taught which how far it is more acceptable than bare preaching and teaching and hearing read our Saviours words Mat. 7.22 23. As for Sermons I hope men do not undertake to prove that they are as eminent a part of Gods worship as prayer If they do I must lesse blame the poor ignorant people that think when they have heard a Sermon or two that they have served God for that day or that week nor the generality of those seduced ones who place so great piety in hearing and think so much the more comfortably of themselves for the number of hours spent in that exercise which of late hath been made the main Church-businesse and yet is no more than may be done by a Heathen or profane person I shall think him to serve God best that devoutly prayes most and comes oftnest and falls down and kneels and worships before the Lord his Maker It cannot be thought equal that prayer and preaching should be so unwarily placed in competition as that prayer should lose by the comparison There may be alwayes need of preaching but then most of all when the Auditory is unchristian This reason prevailed very much in the Primitive times when it was but in vain and unprofitable to go about to convert the world no otherwise than by our prayers Yet even in those Primitive times which had most cause to call for preaching we shall finde that this duty was of rarer exercise and lesse solemnity than that of prayer as it may abundantly be discovered by the Liturgies of both Churches yet extant Maimonid More Neboch cap. 32. Antioch Hom. 106. Maimenides that profound Doctor of the Jews instituting a comparison betwixt their sacrifices and the more substantial services required instead of all other nameth prayer and Invocation these saith he are nearer to Gods first intention these necessary at all times and for every man With him agrees the Christian Antiochus who affirms of prayer that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of a more sublime condition than any other vertue And how our Lord stood affected to this we may acknowledge by that where he calleth the Church his