eaten do not they forbid to handle i. e. Psalms Hymns and Spiritual Songs which St. Paul has commanded to be Sung And what is all this but to subject others to their own Ordinances which are but the Commandments and Traditions of Men Thus those very Texts of Scripture which these Men foolishly brandish against us sometimes urging them against Infant Baptism sometimes against Sprinkling sometimes against the Cross and other Ceremonies and sometimes against our Common Prayer as our Author here do all turn upon themselves and give them a deadly and incurable Wound CHAP. VI. BUT if none of the aforementioned Texts will serve the turn but rather prove mischeivous to him Jo. Bunyan has Two in reserve that shall effectually confute us the first is Zachar. 12.10 I will pour upon the House of David and Inhabitants of Jerusalem the Spirit of Grace and Supplication c. which being Prophesied of the Gospel Days he thence infers that the Spirit is the Author of all our Prayers and therefore must needs invent and dictate them to us in Answer to which I say 1st That what we Translate the Spirit of Supplication may as properly be rendred the Spirit of Mercy and so the Seventy render it the Word in the Original signifying as well to shew Mercy as to Pray and then the Argument deduced from this Place is of no force at all that because God wou'd have Mercy upon the Jews who are here meant by the House of David and Inhabitants of Jerusalem in bringing them out of Captivity that therefore we Christians have a Promise here to Pray by the Spirit in that Sense our Author wou'd have it 2dly If we allow the Vulgar Translation in rendring it the Spirit of Supplication and that this Prophecy has respect to the Gospel Days it was fulfilled on the Day of Pentecost when so many Thousands were Converted by St Peter's Sermon of whom it is said they were first pricked to the Heart Acts 2.37 i. e. for all their Sins and particularly for that great one of Crucifying of Jesus Christ and so they looked on him whom they had pierced as the Prophet foretold they should in the same place by the Eye of Faith and Repentance and received from him the Spirit of Grace and Supplication i. e. such miraculous Gifts and Graces as were bestowed upon the Apostles and first Disciples of our Lord and were confined to that Age when was fulfilled also that Prophecy of Joel Chap. 2.28 29. as St. Peter assures us Acts 2.16 This is it i. e. those miraculous Gifts which you see us have which was spoken by the Prophet Joel 3dly The Holy Ghost is called the Spirit of Supplication because all those Prayers in the Old and New Testament which were made by the Prophets and Apostles and particularly that of our Lord were immediately Inspired and Dictated by the Holy Ghost and they are left upon Record as so many Patterns for us to Compose our Prayers by them on the like occasions and so the Spirit helps our Infirmities in teaching us to Pray according to these Scripture Forms 4thly Because the Holy Spirit stirs us up to this Duty and assists us with fervent Desires in the actual Performance of it on this account also he may be Styled The Spirit of Supplication altho' he does not Dictate to us the very words of our Prayer as he did to the Prophets and Apostles and for any to pretend he does unless they can produce the like Miracles as the Prophets and Apostles wrought is the greatest vanity and Presumption in the World 5thly We may on as good or better Grounds affirm that he is called the Spirit of Supplication because He assists us in the Composure and Devout use of godly Forms of Prayer since 't is said Zach. 12.11 In that Day shall there be a great Mourning in Jerusalem as the Mourning of Hadadrimmon in the Valley of Megiddo and how that was we are given to understand 2 Chron. 35.25 And Jeremiah lamented for Josiah and all the Singing-Men and Singing-Women spake of Josiah in their Lamentations to this Day and made them an Ordinance in Israel i. e. the Jews had a Form of Prayer and Lamentations to be Sung with doleful Notes every Year to Condole the great Loss of that good King Josiah And if the Spirit of Supplication will cause us to Mourn in our Prayers before the Lord as the Jews did we must compose and use the like Form as they did and such a Form have we in our Common Prayer Book wherein on January the Thirtieth we Mourn for our English Josiah I mean King Charles the Martyr and therefore it ought to be continued as an Ordinance among us like that of Jeremiah 's among the Israelites and 't is to the Shame and Scandal of some of our Clergy that this Day is antiquated and the Anniversary-Service disused in several Places and I mention it for no other Reason but in hopes they may be speedily Reform'd or exemplarily Punished John Bunyan's second reserved Proof is p. 112. How will the Favourers of such a Practice i. e. Forms of Prayer answer that Scripture which commandeth the Church should turn away from such as have a Form of Godliness but deny the Power thereof 2 Tim. 3.5 and this he had urged before p. 57. The great Cheat that the Devil and Antichrist deludes the World withal is to make them continue in the Form of any Duty the Form of Preaching of Hearing of Praying c. These are they that have a Form of Godliness but deny the Power from such turn away But this Text also tho' he repeats it and puts false glosses upon it makes nothing to his purpose but rather against him for 1st St. Paul does not here Condemn a Form of Godliness having Commanded it a little before in the very same Epistle 2 Tim. 1.13 Hold fast the Form of sound Words which thou hast heard of me And surely the same Apostle who Commands us to hold fast cannot be supposed so changeable as to Command us to turn away from a Form of Godliness that can never be the meaning of the Place to make the same inspired Penman to Write Contradictions in the same Epistle When therefore he upbraids them with having a Form of Godliness it was only because it was separated from the Power thereof i. e. they had put asunder those things which God would have united as Almighty God upbraids the Jews with the Multitude of their Sacrifices their vain Oblations Incense new Moons and Sabbaths as if he did not require but abominate them and yet these things God himself had strictly enjoyn'd under great Penalties Isa 1.11 12 13. But the Reason why he is there said to loath them is because their Hands were full of Blood they did not bring these Sacrifices and Oblations with such pure Hearts and clean Hands with which he commanded them to be Offer'd at his Altar ver 15 16 17. Now this Author might
the Fifth in the Practice of their Corban Certainly if this place has any respect to Prayer it more forceably concludes against their extemporary Prayers which they constantly use in their Meetings whilst in the mean time they reject that excellent Form which Christ himself has Commanded Luke 11.2 When ye Pray say Our Father c. So that with more reason any one may think they themselves are the modern Scribes and Pharisees that are here Condemned by our Saviour of whom he says ver 9. Full well ye reject the Commandment of God even that concerning the Lords Prayer that you may keep your own Tradition even that of extemporary Prayer which is a meer Invention of Men and no where commanded in the Holy Scriptures But in our Common Prayer Book we retain that Divine Prayer and all our other Prayers are Composed according to it 't is after that manner we Pray in all the rest Mat. 6.9 so that in the use of the Common Prayer we keep the Commandment of Christ and they in despising thereof reject it and then these Words which they urge against us turn upon themselves and so does that of Deut. 12.30 31 32. Take heed to thy self that thou be not snared by following them after that they be destroyed from before thee and that thou enquire not after their Gods saying how did those Nations serve their Gods Even so will I do likewise thou shalt not do so unto the Lord thy God for every abomination unto the Lord which he hateth have they done unto their Gods for even their Sons and their Daughters have they burnt in the Fire unto their Gods what thing soever I command you observe to do it thou shalt not add thereto nor diminish from it For first are we such heathen People as these seven Nations were Do we Worship the Host of Heaven Sun Moon and Stars as they 〈◊〉 Do we Sacrifice our Children to Idols as they did If this were true they might have some pretence for urging these Texts of â—â—â—…ture and from them also might 〈…〉 that they are bound to cut 〈…〉 Branch as by the Covenant they are Sâ—orâ— to do even as the Israelites were oblig'd to destroy the seven Idolatrous Nations But if none of these things can be laid to our Charge who Worship the God of Heaven and his Son Jesus Christ and abhor Idolatry with what Face dare they produce such Scriptures against us as concern none but Idolaters In the next place How do we add to the Word of God or diminish from it by the use of the Common Prayer Book Do we thereby make more or less Canonical Books of Holy Scripture than the Church of God has allow'd and approv'd of in all Ages Do we not acknowledge and believe every tittle of the Holy Scriptures and abominate the least addition or diminution to them But some call it Divine Service and the Common Prayer Book is bound up with the Bible and is not this an adding to the Word of God No by no means for when we call the Common Prayer Divine Service we give it that Title from the Object thereof which is Almighty God to whom all our Prayers are directed and offered up and we are not so Presumptuous as to intend thereby that they are of equal Authority with the Holy Scriptures or that God himself is the immediate Author of them excepting that only of Our Father but only that Prayer being the Service of God and our Churches Prayers Composed according to the Rule of his Word some on that account call it Divine Service tho' that Title be not to be found in the Book it self and therefore can be no Objection against it and as for the Binding it up with the Bible that does not make it any part thereof no more than the Contents of the several Chapters and the Marginal Notes can be said to be part of the Holy Scriptures which yet are bound up with them but to shew the great value we have for the Word of God it is ordered by the Common Prayer Book that in this solemn Worship of Almighty God some Psalms and Chapters out of the Old and New Testament shall be read every Morning and every Evening wherein we follow the Example of Christ and St. Paul the former of which did read part of the Prophet Isaiah to the People and it was his Custom to do so Luk. 4.16 17 18 19 20. and the latter after the reading the Law and the Prophets preached to the Congregation Act. 13.15 16 17. c. a thing which is never Practiced as I am credibly inform'd by John Bunyan and his Party no more than it is by the Quakers which shews the little regard they both have to the Holy Scripture and that they prefer their own Extemporary Prayers and Preachments before it with what Forehead then can this Author pretend that we undervalue the Word of God either by adding to it or diminishing from it which not we but they themselves are guilty of for they never read the holy Scriptures to their Congregations as we do but instead thereof pretend that their Extemporary Prayers and rambling Discourses are the immediate dictates of the Holy Ghost and then both must be as good Scripture as any in the Bible which is truly to add to the Word of God and to break the foregoing Precept of Moses and that other to the same purpose Deut. 4.2 Ye shall not add unto the Word which I command you neither shall you diminish ought from it that ye may keep the Commandments of your Lord your God which I command you which these Men thus openly neglect and contemn in rejecting that Form of Prayer which Christ requires all his Disciples to use and so those two other Texts he mentions as Rev. 22.18 and Prov. 30.6 concern themselves and not us in that pretending to pray in the very Words of the Spirit they thereby add unto the Revelation of St. John new ones of their own and therefore have all the reason in the World to fear the Plagues there threatned and lest God should reprove them and they should be found Liars lastly as for Col. 2.16 to verse 24. how does that effect the Common Prayer Book Do we therein teach the Observation of new Moons and Sabbaths and the Worshiping of Angels Or do we therein forbid to touch taste or handle those things which God has allow'd as some of the ancient Hereticks did as particularly Marriage and unclean Meats which they held to be unlawful but if nothing of all this can be fastned upon us what Impudence is it for this Man to produce this place of St. Paul against us especially when we may with better reason urge it against him and his Adherents for do not they forbid to touch i. e. any Form of Prayer even that which our Lord Commanded Do not they forbid to taste i. e. any Meat that has blood in it which they hold unlawful to be
Christians to offer in my Defence and justification 1st That when I reflect on Jo. Bunyan's Groanings I do it only to shew his false and absurd Interpretation of Rom. 8.26 where he misapplies the Groanings the Apostle there speaks of to himself and other Men which plainly belong to the Spirit of God being such as cannot be heard or uttered as the Groanings of Men are and I do not hereby condemn the Sighs and Graans which good People out of a deep Sense of their Sins and Sorrow for them may and often do utter in their Closet Devotions and private Ejaculations which tho' none but God sees and hears yet he approves and accepts them the better and meerly for their being Sincere and Secret he will one Day Reward them openly Mat. 6.4.6.18 but as for such Sighs and Groans which are vented in the Congregation a thing constantly practised among the Quakers as well as J. Bunyan and his Party and other Dissenters we have no Precept or Example for them either in the Old or New Testament We read or hear of no such thing in all their Religious Assemblies and particularly those three great ones wherein the Spirit of God assisted in a more extraordinary manner than he has ever done since that time I mean when the Apostles and Disciples to the number of an Hundred and twenty met together and Prayed to God to direct them in the choice of a Successor to Judas Acts 1.15.24 and when they were assembled on the Day of Pentecost Acts 2.1 when Three thousand were Converted by St. Peter's Sermon ver 14.41 when the first great Council was assembled at Jerusalem Act. 15.7.12 and when St. Paul Preached his farewel Sermon at Troas continuing his Speech till Midnight Acts 20.7 in all which places we read that the People either kept Silence or were sorrowful and pricked to the Heart or else spake in diverse Tongues the wonderful Works of God but we do not find there was one Soul that Groan'd among them which I the rather mention because all these were wonderful Conversions and extraordinary Effusions of the Holy Ghost so little Authority from the Scripture have any Dissenters for the frequent Groanings which are heard among them in their respective Meetings or for their making these Groanings an infallible Mark of their having the Spirit of God they are rather sometimes a Mark of Hypocrisie and that those that Delight and Pride themselves in them do this as the Scribes and Pharisees did of old only to be heard and seen of Men Mat. 23.2 And therefore whatsoever good Men may do in private between God and their own Souls when none sees or hears but God alone yet in publick they are careful to avoid such loud and frequent Groans at least to be very sparing in them least instead of passing for Saints they should be taken for vain-glorious Hypocrites 2dly As for my slighting J. Bunyans and the Dissenters Pretences to Pray by the Spirit I must confess I do so in that Sense they intend it who imagine and say That the Holy Spirit Invents and Dictates all the Words of their Prayer unto them which is to make Almighty God to multiply Miracles without necessity and to make also the Words of their Prayer as True Infallible and Divine as the very Words of Scripture being both equally Inspired by the Holy Ghost a thing that has not been known since the Apostolick Age and then it was always accompanyed with the Gift of Tongues and the different and contradictory Prayers of the Quakers Anabaptists Independents and Presbyterians who all confidently pretend to Pray thus by the Spirit and yet Pray one against another is a sufficient Confutation of it for the Holy Spirit is one and not contrary to himself and all his Intercessions for the Saints are to the same end in the same manner and according to the same good Will and Pleasure of Almighty God but all this is Perform'd in a Secret Invisible and Vnutterable way and so is the Assistance which he affords to good Men even by godly Motions and holy Desires which are kindled within them and which they can only feel in their Hearts but not hear with their Ears or express with their Tongues and such an Assistance of the Holy Spirit our Common Prayer Book allows of and teaches us to Pray for it in the beginning of Morning and Evening Service after Confession of our Sins the next Prayer which is in Form of an Absolution runs thus Wherefore let us beseech him to grant us true Repentance and his Holy Spirit that those things may please him which we do at this present and that the rest of our Life hereafter may be Pure and Holy c. Before the repetition of the Ten Commandments the Collect has these words in it Cleanse the Thoughts of our Hearts by the Inspiration of thy Holy Spirit that we may perfectly love thee and worthily magnify thy Holy Name c. In the Litany one of the Petitions is That it may please thee to give to all thy People increase of Grace to hear meekly thy Word and to receive it with pure Affection and to bring forth the Fruits of the Spirit And 't is worth our Observation that what some are pleas'd to call the Gift of Prayer is not mentioned among the Fruits of the Spirit which are all particularly set down Gal. 5.22.23 as Love Joy Peace long Suffering Gentleness Goodness Faith Meekness Temperance neither is it reckoned among the Gifts of the Spirit which are recounted Isa 11.2 as Wisdom Vnderstanding Counsel Might Knowledge Godliness and the Fear of the Lord nor yet in 1 Cor. 12.8 9 10. where they are plac'd in this Order The Word of Wisdom the Word of Knowledge Faith the Gifts of Healing the working of Miracles Prophecy discerning of Spirits divers kinds and Interpretation of Tongues in both which places there is no mention of the Gift of Prayer tho' in one of them there is of the Gift of Prophecy and therefore these Mens Pretences to Pray by the Spirit as a peculiar Gift of his has no Foundation in Holy Scripture indeed for any to express themselves well on a sudden and to Pray with variety and fluency of Words is and may be called a Gift of God and so is Speech Memory and Invention which nevertheless are all common to good and bad Men and capable of being improved by industry and use and more apt to Puff up than Edify and to make such as have them despise and decry all that use Forms as Formal Superstitious and Graceless Men that want the Life Spirit and Power of Prayer and yet I doubt not but many good People can testify this by their own Experience that some notorious Hypocrites have this Gift of Prayer and some devout and sincere Christians continue in the use of Forms and reap the Comfort and Benefit of it And 't is farther observable that all the Gifts of the Spirit enumerated by St. Paul were