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
Expressions by no means agree to St. Paul who was Converted before this being quite contrary to the Nature of a Regenerate Man who is said in other places of this Epistle to be free from Sin and the Servant of Righteousness Rom. 6.18 That the Law of the Spirit of Life in Christ has made me free from the Law of Sin and Death Rom. 8.2 That he has crucified the Flesh with the Affections and Lusts Gal. 5.24 That Sin does not Reign in his mortal Body that he should obey it in the Lusts thereof Rom. 6.12 So that unless we can twist Contradictions we cannot suppose St. Paul to speak of himself in that seventh Chapter but only of a Judaising Christian or a Convinced but not Converted Person and nothing is more usual than for Prophets and Apostles to speak in the Person of others when they say I or We did so or so for we cannot suppose St. Paul and the rest of the Apostles or indeed any sensible Christian so very Ignorant as not to know to whom and thro' whom and for what to Pray and therefore the we know not c. must have respect to other Men and such as were Heathens and Unconverted who had not before heard of Christ or seen the Gospel where there are Rules laid down and those Dictated and written by the Holy Spirit how they and all Men ought to Pray even to our Father which is in Heaven thro' his beloved Son Jesus Christ for such Lawful things as are according to his Will And when Men Pray thus according to that excellent Form which Christ has prescribed his Holy Spirit will also assist them with good Desires so that they shall Heartily wish and long for those things for which they Pray with submission to the Will of God and thus the Spirit helpeth our Infirmities in revealing to us the Holy Scriptures where those that were Ignorant before are taught how to Pray as they ought But our Author goes on with his Paraphrase p. 30.31 The Apostles when they were at best yea when they were assisted with the Holy Ghost yet then they were fain to come off with Sighs and Groans c. Mark here says he they could not so well and fully come off in the manner of performing this Duty as these in our Days think they can But is not this another good Argument for Forms of Prayer when the Apostles themselves stood in need of them and therefore desired Christ to teach them such a Form as John had taught his Disciples Luke 11.1 Lord teach us to Pray as John also taught his Disciples And certainly they had need to be taught such a Form to help them out if they were such Bunglers at Prayer as J. Bunyan represents them viz. That they were not able to make an end of the Prayer they had begun in the Congregation but were forc'd to break off abruptly perhaps in the midst thereof which must needs cause Shame to themselves and Disappointment and Confusion to the whole Assembly which all their Sighs and Groans would never be able to compensate but no Man of Sense can believe the Apostles ever Prayed at this rate in the Church of God where they command all things to be done Decently and in order and to the Edification of the People 1 Cor. 14.26.40 For what Order Decency or Edifying is there in Sighs and Groans which Hypocrites may utter as well as Sincere Christians And when either does it who can tell the meaning of them And may not a Man edifie as much by the Quakers Silent-meetings as by such Sighs and Groans which have no certain and determinate Signification as Words and Speeches have And yet if we may believe Jo. Bunyan these were a good part of the Apostles Prayers even in their publik Assemblies but the Proof which he brings for it is Simple and Ridiculous viz. For the Spirit it self maketh Intercession for us with Groanings which cannot be uttered Whereas these are not the Groanings of the Apostles or of any Man else upon the Face of the Earth but the Groanings of the Holy-Ghost himself in Heaven where together with the Lord Jesus he maketh Intercession for us at the Right-hand of God and that in a very fervent and powerful manner which St. Paul calls his Groanings which cannot be uttered and therefore can never be applyed to the Groanings of Men which are always heard and make a sound in their very utterance So foolish and presumptuous is this Man in Expounding and Applying this Text especially in endeavouring to prove from it that the Holy Spirit does invent and dictate to us the very words of Prayer for here are no Words at all proceeding from the Spirit but only Groanings How then can this place prove that the Spirit suggests to us the Words of our Prayer when he interceeds for us without Words even with Groanings but pray mistake not not with such Groanings as Jo. Bunyan and his Party makes and may be heard in every corner of the House and in the very Streets but with Groanings that cannot be uttered And that these are the inexpressible Desires of Christ and the Spirit of God in Heaven is plain from Rom. 8.27 He that searcheth the Hearts i. e. Almighty God whose Prerogative it is knoweth what is the Mind of the Spirit because he maketh Intercession for the Saints according to the Will of God So that this Text also as all the rest turns upon the Objector and proves that the Spirit does not put Words into their Mouths nor cause those Groanings which are so loud and frequent in their Meetings the Spirits Groanings here being said to be without noise or sound without utterance or expression they are such as cannot be uttered Whence I may well conclude that Jo. Bunyan 's extemporary Prayers his dismal Groans and those Fits and Agonies of the Spirit which he says he was sometimes in when he was strongly perswaded to leave off and to seek the Lord no longer p. 71. I may conclude I say that this is a great Cheat of the Devil and Antichrist by which he does delude and deceive the World by which Men would perswade themselves and others that they Pray with the Spirit that they Preach with the Spirit and Hear with the Spirit even with the same extraordinary Spirit which St. Paul had when there is no such thing but they are rather possessed by an evil Spirit which makes them think and speak so highly and vain-gloriously of themselves and so contemptibly and uncharitably of others their Mouth speaketh great swelling Words having Mens Persons in admiration because of advantage These be they that separate themselves Sensual having not the Spirit Jud. ver 16.19 CHAP. VIII HAving said in the Conclusion of the former Chapter that J. Bunyan and his Party have not the Spirit to which they so much pretend I come now to prove this Charge against them from two substantial Arguments 1st Their Disobedience to their Lawful
of an extraordinary and miraculous Nature as the Gift of Healing diverse kinds of Tongues working Miracles and the Faith there mentioned among them was not such as is ordinary and saving even to believe that Jesus Christ is the true Messias and Saviour of the World but it was a Faith of an extraordinary and miraculous Nature even to believe that God would enable them to Work the Miracle they were about to perform before the People for the Apostles never attempted to work a Miracle till they had this extraordidinary Faith wrought in them first by some Divine impulse from the Spirit which assured them that they should certainly perform the Miracle they undertook for had the Apostles at any time failed in such attempts and set about a Miracle which they were not able to work it would have exposed them mightily to the World and given a great Blow to the Christian Religion and made them and it to be looked on as an Imposture and therefore they had always first a strong and infallible Impulse upon their Minds which St. Paul calls also Faith to assure them they could and should be able to work the Miracle before ever they attempted to do it but this and the other Gifts he there reckons up were not ordinary and saving which every good Christian may now hope for but they were extraordinary and miraculous as is farther evident from 1 Cor. 12.11 But all these worketh that one and the self-same Spirit dividing to every Man severally as he will i. e. no one Person had all these miraculous Gifts before mentioned but they were variously distributed among them one had this another had that another a third and so on and they all ceased in that Age which cannot be said of the saving Gifts and Graces of the Spirit where he that has one in truth has certainly all of them as he that truely has saving Faith has also Hope and Charity Patience and Meekness in some measure they being all knit together as so many Links in the same Chain that there can be no Separation made between them and these shall never cease and the not understanding and considering this is the main Cause I doubt that many in this Age expect and pretend to those extraordinary and miraculous Gifts of the Spirit which are long since ceased as St. Paul declares they should 1 Cor. 13.8.13 Charity never faileth but whether there be Prophecies they shall fail whether there be Tongues they shall cease whether there be Knowledge it shall vanish away and now abideth Faith Hope Charity these three but the greatest of these is Charity But little or nothing of this is to be found in all Jo. Bunyan's Book which I have here Answered as I believe any one will find that does not think his Labour lost to read it The CONCLVSION AND thus having with his own Weapons Vanquish'd this Anabaptistical Goliah that is Armed Cap-a-pee with Brass I shall close all with this short Address to the Armies of our Israel That they would every one of them get a Common Prayer Book that is able to use it and think himself Naked and Vnarmed without it as a Soldier does that is without his Sword and that they would not only have their Common Prayer Books about them but also make use of them in their daily Devotions and not only use them but put them also in Practise by their daily Conversation in living a Godly Righteous and Sober Life as they are therein taught to do without this tho' our Prayers are never so good and we make never so many of them they will signifie nothing they will do us no more Service than the Ark of God did the Israelites when they relyed on it only for their Deliverance and Preservation and did not take care to walk worthy of the Divine Presence which resided therein and dwelt among them 1 Sam. 4.3 Let us fetch the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord out of Shiloh unto us that when he cometh among us it may save us out of the Hand of our Enemies Thus they thought and earnestly expected but were soon convinced of the contrary by the overthrow of their Army and the taking of the Ark it self and carrying it in Triumph into the Philistines Camp ver 10 11. And thus has it fared with our Common Prayer Book when we too much rested in it and made use of it with Formality Lukewarmness and Indifferency and not with a suitable Zealand Devotion it was twice thrown out of the Church and taken from us and carried Captive by our Adversaries of Geneva and Rome who tho' they seem to stand at a distance and defie one another yet they both agree in this to Hate our Common Prayer Book and to do what they can to destroy it and nothing but our walking unworthy of it nothing but the Sins of our Priests and the Iniquity of our People can give them once more their desired Success against it wherefore let all the Members of our Orthodox Church shew their Soundness and Sincerity by something else than the bare use of the Common Prayer in their respective Families by something else than Drinking numerous Healths to the Prosperity of both for I must needs say such numerous Healths as these are one of the Diseases she at present labours under and there is no hopes of a Cure till all her Sons grow wise unto Sobriety till they all shew themselves sincere Christians and sound Protestants by something else than bare Names and meer outward Professions even by living Godly Righteous and Sober Lives as our Common Prayer Book teaches us to Pray every Day in its general Confession and we are bound to Practice in our daily Conversation in short our leading reformed Lives and our Walking as well as Praying according to the Common Prayer Book is the best the only way to Preserve it and the Reformed Religion among us FINIS
to wipe off the soul Aspersions he casts on our Common Prayer Book and all that use it and to Examine and Confute his Pretences to Pray by the Spirit as St. Paul did which I have done in the ensuing Treatise wherein I have shewn the Vanity and Sophistry of all his Arguments for himself and against us especially those that are fetcht from Scripture and returned them with their genuine Force upon his own Head I have there also Proved that the Spirit does not now Invent and Dictate the very Words of our Prayers as they pretend he does tho' all their Pretences of this Nature are meer Cant and a Device how to please Men more than God for Almighty God who is the same Yesterday to Day and for Ever is not delighted with Novelty Variety and change of Words and therefore our Lord Jesus in his last Agony Prayed Thrice in the same Words Mat. 26.44 and without doubt in the use of that short pithy Form for so it was to him having said it Twice before he was as fervent in his Desires the Third time as he was at First 't is mortal Man only who has itching Ears that loves to have them Tickled with new Expressions and in Complyance with this vain Humour I fear it is that these Men decry all Godly Forms even that of Christ's own Composing and set up their Praying by the Spirit which yet is but a meer Artifice the effect of a good Memory and great Confidence and to cast a Mist before the Peoples Eyes they Chop and Change the very same Prayers beginning where they ended and ending where they began in such a Dexterous manner that their ignorant Hearers perceive it not but believe their Prayers are always New and the Product of the Spirit but more knowing Persons who often hear them discover the Cheat and that they are the very same Prayers still with some little Alterations and so they continue in the use of Forms themselves whilst yet they are so Presumptuous as to Condemn it in others for an Antichristian Practice I shall say no more but refer the Reader to the serious Perusal of the following Discourse where I shall leave him to determine how well or ill I have Managed it thinking it no less vain than improper to attempt the Byasing of his Judgment by a Complemental Preface only I Pray a Blessing may attend him in the judicious Reading what I assure him I have Written for no other end but God's Glory and his Churches good and so I bid him heartily Farewel A DEFENCE OF THE LITURGY Against the Dissenters c. CHAP. I. 'T IS Observable of Satan that when he temped our blessed Saviour to throw himself Headlong from the Pinacle of the Temple he urges Psalm 91.11 12. He shall give his Angels charge concerning thee and in their Hands they shall bear thee up lest at any time thou dash thy Foot against a Stone but the Devil leaves out part of the Verse which made against him To keep thee in all thy ways i. e. the ways of God but not in all thy wandrings from them wherein it would have been Presumption to expect the Divine protection the like Course does John Bunyan take when he urges 1 Cor. 14.15 I will pray with the Spirit and I will pray with the Vnderstanding also he omits the later part of the Verse I will sing with the Spirit and I will sing with the Vnderstanding also and he does not only omit this in the Title Page but in six or seven Repetitions afterwards which no doubt was designedly done because if he had once mentioned this it would have been a plain and full Confutation of his Argument deduced from the former part of the Verse and indeed of his whole Book for if we may Sing with the Spirit when we have a form of Words and a Tune also to observe which is supposed and allowed in our present Practice of Psalmody Why may we not as well Pray with the Spirit when we have a form of Words before us Is there not the same Reason for Praying as for Singing with the Spirit when both are done in a form of sound Words This is such a convincing Proof of the lawfulness of Forms of Prayer and that those who devoutly use them may be assisted by the Spirit of God that it overthrows all his Cavils and Exceptions against them and strikes his Cause dead thus the Author stumbles in the Threshold and discovers the cloven Foot in the very entrance and almost in every Page of his Book as is evident from his intolerable Pride and uncharitableness which he shews therein of which I shall give you a taste for to mentionall would be to Transcribe his whole Discourse Page 14 he says That Ignorance Profaness and the Spirit of Envy reigns in the Hearts of those Men that are so hot for Forms of Prayers c. scarce one in Forty of them knows what 't is to be born again to have Communion with the Father through the Son c. they still live Cursed Drunken Whorish and Abominable Lives full of Malice Envy Decit Persecuting of the dear Children of God Oh what a dreadful after-clap is coming upon them Which all their Hypocritical assembling themselves together with all their Prayers shall never be able to help them against or shelter them from and p. 43 44. he says Every cursed Whoremaster Theif and Drunkard Swearer and Perjured Person they that have not only been such in times past but are even so still these I say by some must be counted the only honest Men and all because with their Blasphemous Throats and Hypocritical Hearts they will come to Church and say Our Father Nay farther these Men tho' every time they say to God Our Father do most abominably Blaspeme yet they must be compell'd thus to do and p. 45 46. says he Give me leave to Reason with thee thou blind ignorant Sot it may be thy great Prayer is to say Our Father which art in Heaven c. Is not the Devil thy Father And darest thou say to God Our Father c. But as the Devil presented himself among the Sons of God Job 1. when they were to present themselves before the Father even our Father so is it now because the Saints are commanded to say our Father therefore all the blind ignorant Rabble in the World they must also use the same Words Our Father These are some of the base scurrilous and unchristian Reflections he every where bestows on the Members of the Church of England without excepting any out of that number making them as St. Paul affirms himself and his holy Brethren were accounted in his time 1 Cor. 4.13 As the filth of the World and the off-scouring of all things unto this day and I appeal to all sober and good Men whether this be not the Language of a pround and uncharitable Spirit and of a Tongue set on fire of Hell Jam. 3.6 and
unknown Tongue in such a Language as a Man had never learnt and neither the Congregation nor perhaps himself understood tho he cou'd speak it for ver 14. he says If I Pray in an unknown Tongue which in the next verse he calls a Praying with the Spirit my Spirit Prayeth but my Vnderstanding is unfruitful being not able to Interpret what he said which was another extraordinary Gift of the Spirit and which he that had the Gift of Tongues sometimes wanted and therefore the Apostle intimates in this place that there may be a separation between them between Praying with the Spirit and Praying with Vnderstanding and when there is the latter is to be preferred before the former ver 19. in the Church I had rather speak five words with my Vnderstanding that by my Voice I might Teach others than Ten thousand words in an unknown Tongue i. e. in the Spirit which bestowed that Gift so that in St. Paul's Judgment Praying with the Spirit is not always to the Edification of the Church not always performed with Vnderstanding And so much my Author owns p. 58.59 This distinction was occasioned through the Corinthians not observing that it was their Duty to do what they did to the Edification of themselves and others too whereas they did it for their own Commendations so I judge for many of them having extraordinary Gifts as to speak with divers Tongues therefore they were more for those mighty Gifts than they were for the Edifying of their Brethren which was the cause that Paul wrote this Chapter to them to let them understand that tho' extraordinary Gifts were excellent yet to do what they did was more excellent for saith the Apostle If I Pray in an unknown Tongue my Spirit Prayeth but my Vnderstanding is unfruitful and also the Vnderstanding of others therefore I will Pray with the Spirit and I will Pray with the Vnderstanding also but as I observ'd in the beginning of this Chapter he stops short here without adding which I shall therefore add I will Sing with the Spirit and I will Sing with the Vnderstanding also the plain meaning of which Phrase is this viz. that in the Apostles Days some were enabled by a miraculous Gift of the Spirit not only to Pray in an unknown Tongue but also to Sing in an unknown Psalm or Hymn as appears farther from ver 26. When ye come together every one of you hath a Psalm hath a Tongue c. both these were extraordinary and miraculous Gifts by the Confession of our Adversary and he may as well pretend to Sing as Pray extempore from this Text of Scripture but unless he can Sing and Pray in an unknown Tongue he doth not Sing and Pray as St. Paul and the Corinthians did and if notwithstanding this devout Christians may Compose Spiritual Songs and Hymns and Sing them according to the Rules of Musical Notes and yet all that while be assisted by the Spirit so may they also Compose Prayers and Praises before-hand and read them in the Congregation who are to join with them therein and yet all that time be assisted by the same Spirit for Praying and Singing with the Spirit are expressed as * Discourse of extempore Prayer p. 13. Dr. Taylor observes in the same Place in the same manner to the same end and I know no Reason why there should be differing Senses put upon them to serve purposes CHAP. II. HAving clear'd the Scope and Meaning of this mangled divided and abused Text and detected the Authors Pride in Sainting himself and his own Party and his Diabolical Slanders in making Devils Incarnate of us I shall next consider the malicious Reflections he casts on our Churches Liturgy in the Prosecution of his Discourse Page 11. he says Our Common Prayer Book is taken out of the Papistical Mass Book being the Scraps and Devices of some Popes some Friars and I wot not what and this he repeats Page 29. Paul and his Companions were as able to have made a Common Prayer Book as any Pope or Prelate in the Church of Rome and could as well have made a Common Prayer Book as those who first Composed this c. But I have these things to offer to shew the Falseness and Senselessness of such Suggestions 1st That our Common Prayer Book was not Compiled by any Pope or Prelate of Rome but by some Reformed Protestant Divines who suffer'd Martyrdom for the Protestant Religion Sealing it with their Blood and how can that savour of Popery that was the joint and unanimous Work of Protestant Martyrs who without doubt were assisted therein with the same Holy Spirit that enabled them to resist unto Blood and one of them * See Fox's Martyrol p. 1524. They with weeping Eyes Prayed together and Kissed one another and he gave unto her a Book of the Church Service set out by K. Edward which in the time of his Imprisonment he daily used Doctor Rowland Taylor made use of the Common Prayer Book when he lay in Prison and a little before his Martyrdom commended it to his Wife as the last Token of his Love 2d If it were true that the Common Prayer Book were taken out of the Mass that is no Proof of its Unlawfulness if there be nothing else Sinful in it the Papists using some such Prayers as we do does not render them Unlawful They use to anoint Sick and Dying Persons with Oyl and so do the Anabaptists and when urg'd with this that theirs is a Popish Practice their Answer is that 't is never the worse for all that if it be according to the Word of God and may not we return the same Answer That our Prayers are never the worse tho' some of them shou'd be found yet in another Language in the Mass Book so long as they are agrâ—â—able to the Holy Scriptures and pursuant to those excellent Forms Recorded there 3dly The Papists are so far from likeing and favouring the Common Prayer that the first thing they did after Queen Mary ascended the Throne was to abolish and cast it out of the Church which they would never have done if they had thought it conducing to the advancement of their Cause but they knew it was the best Defence and Buswark we have against Popery and therefore demolished and took it away and so did the Dissenters again in the Cromwellian Days and we may on their own grounds conclude them to be Popishly affected because they shewed the same Enmity and Spight to the Common Prayer Book and with disdain laid it aside as the Papists had done before and if these Men are never the worse for doing the same things the Papists did Why is our Common Prayer Book the worse for having some things in it which the Mass Book has Especially if it be consider'd that all their Prayers are in Latin which 〈◊〉 a Language unknown to the common People all our Prayers are in English which is our Mother Tongue and understood by
with as much or more reason from these Texts infer that God had forbidden the Jewish People to Offer any Sacrifice or Incense to keep any new Moons or Sabbaths as from the other Text to pretend that God forbids a Form of Godliness whereas indeed nothing but the Abuse of these Religious Duties is reprehended in either place and when St. Paul commands Timothy 2 Epist 3.5 for this is spoken to him to whom this Epistle was sent to turn away from such the Apostle gives him Direction what to do with such notorious Hypocrites as had the Form of Godliness but denyed the Power thereof even to cast them out of all Christian Society by the Censures of the Church and so to withdraw from them but not from the Form of Godliness which was good still and never the worse for these Mens abuse of it Turn away from such Men but not from such a Form So that this Text likewise as all the rest he hath hitherto urged if it has any respect to a Form of Prayer as this Objector insinuates is a good Argument for the Lawfulness of such a Form and will justifie us in the use thereof provided we let the Power of Godliness go along with it and on this account St. Paul commands Timothy or the Church as this Man would have it to hold fast that Form of sound Words which he had heard of him and in another place to the same purpose with this and the former he says 1 Tim. 6.3 4 5. If any man teach otherwise and consent not to wholesome Words even the Words of our Lord Jesus Christ and to the Doctrine which is according to Godliness he is Proud knowing nothing but doting about Questions and strifes of Words whereof cometh Envy Strife Railings evil Surmisings perverse Disputings of Men of corrupt Minds and destitute of the Truth supposing that Gain is Godliness from such withdraw thy self i. e. by passing the Sentence of Excommunication upon them Now do not all three places concern Jo. Bunyan and his Party who teach otherwise and who condemn that Form of sound Words which Christ himself has taught us and St. Paul commands us to hold fast Are they not also Proud false Accusers Trayterous Heady High-minded and plainly decipher'd under the black Character the Apostle there gives of such as reject that Form of sound Words which is according to Godliness And so we have hence also gain'd another good Proof of the Lawfulness of the Common Prayer Book as being a Form of Godliness and containing a Form of sound and wholesome Words and if we joyn the Power thereof with it we may and ought to continue in the Devout use thereof and never to Teach or Practise otherwise for fear of falling under the black Character before given and more at large set down in that Chapter CHAP. VII BUT our Author having had such bad Success in the choice of his Arguments against Forms of Prayer which prove no such thing but rather the Lawfulness of them and the Vnlawfulness of their withdrawing from them for the sake of their extemporary Effusions let us in the next place see what better Arguments he advances to make good his Pretences to Pray by the Spirit and that such extemporary Prayers are commanded in the Scriptures As for his Text out of 1 Cor. 14 15 which is the chief Proof he brings it is no Proof for but against him as I have already shewn in my first Chapter and shall now farther make appear For 1st This is no Command but an Example and that of an extraordinary and miraculous Nature even by the Confession of our Adversary St. Paul's Praying with the Spirit being accompanyed with the Gift of Tongues and therefore he says ver 18. I thank God I speak with Tongues more than you all so that unless Jo Bunyan and his Party had the same miraculous Gift of Tongues which I presume they have not the Confidence to pretend to they cannot urge St. Paul 's Example for their pretences to Pray by the Spirit having it not in the same extraordinary Measure which he had They may as well pretend to Visions and Revelations which were vouchsafed to that great Apostle in an high degree he being caught up into the third Heaven and hearing there such Words as are not lawful i. e. not possible for a Man to utter 2 Cor. 12.2 3 4. They may as well say I have been caught up into Paradice as I will Pray with the Spirit in the same manner that St. Paul did But if these Words should as I think they cannot refer to the ordinary Gifts of the Spirit then we may from them deduce not only the Lawfulness but necessity also of using a Form of Prayer as I have before observ'd being so closely connected with the latter part of the first I will Sing with the Spirit and I will Sing with the Vnderstanding also Now since all Christians make use of Forms in Singing or else the Congregation can never joyn with them and when they do they may Sing with the Spirit What Reason can there be given why they may not as well Pray by the Spirit altho' they Pray according to set Forms which are before them So that this is as unlucky a Text for his purpose as the Author could possibly have lighted upon for instead of concluding against Forms of Prayer it is such a convincing Argument of the Lawfulness of them as I believe neither be nor all his Party will ever be able to Answer His next Argument is from Rom. 8.26 Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our Infirmities for we know not what we should Pray for as we ought but the Spirt it self maketh Intercession for us with Groanings that cannot be uttered which he sets down in the Title-Page and repeats and flourishes with several times in his Book and does thus Paraphrase upon it p. 29. Consider first the Person speaking even Paul and in his Person all the Apostles We Apostles we extraordinary Officers the wise Master Builders that have some of us been caught up into Paradice we know not what we should Pray for And p. 31. The Apostles when they were at best yea when the Holy Ghost assisted them yet then were they fain to come off with Sighs and Groans falling short of expressing their Mind but with Sighs and Groans which cannot be uttered A false and silly Paraphrase indeed for first When St. Paul says We or I we are not to understand it always as spoken of himself but he takes upon him the Person of others and sometimes such as are unregenerate even after his own Conversion as Rom. 7.8 9.14.23.25 where he says Sin wrought in me all manner of Concupiscence Sin reviv'd and I dyed I am carnal sold under Sin I see another Law in my Members warring against the Law of my Mind and bringing me into Captivity to the Law of Sin and Death with my Flesh I serve the Law of Sin All which
Superiours in Church and State The Spirits of the Prophets are Subject to the Prophets 1 Cor. 14.32 And the Spirit of God perswades and commands Men to Obey every Ordinance of Man for the Lord's sake and to be subject to our Civil and Ecclesiastical Governours not only for Wrath but also for Conscience sake Rom. 13.5 1 Pet. 2.13 But these Men by their causeless and sinful Separation from our Church make a Schisme in it as by their frequent resistance of our rightful Kings they have made Rebellions in the State a thing which the Apostles and primitive Christians were never guilty of under the most bloody Persecutions but always abhor'd it as contrary to the good Spirit of God 2dly The base Railing and filthy Language which this Author and his Party do aften bestow upon us a brief account of which I have before given and shall now give an instance or two more of it to fill up the Measure of his Iniquity p. 44. speaking of Men that use Forms of Prayers by which without doubt he marks out us he says They in Person appear as Hypocrites and their Prayers are an abomination when they say they have been pouring out their Souls unto God he saith they have been Howling like Dogs and for this he quotes Hos 7.14 tho 't is plain he here adds to the Word of God there being no mention of Dogs in that place but only of the Children of Ephraims Howling upon their Beds and this bold Man adds thereunto like Dogs to render us more odious in the application But if we should take the same liberty and say that these Men in their Conventicles Groan and Grunt like Hogs and Snarl and Bark like Dogs tho' they cannot Bite and Devour us I believe they would Proclaim us for the most Wicked and Uncharitable People in the World For this very Man on the Score of our slighting his Praying by the Spirit as I think I have sufficiently prov'd we have Reason to do breaks out into this strange and horrid Exclamation Is it not the Mark of implacable Reprobates O fearful Can you not be content to be Damn'd for your Sins against the Law but you must Sin against the Holy Ghost Good God! That we should be accused of the Sin against the Holy Ghost only for Vindicating his Honour and exposing such Men as would father their Nonsense and Blasphemies upon him But in Truth 't is these are the Blasphemers of the Holy Spirit 't is these are the Corahs and Balaams of the Age that Rebel against our Moses and Aaron and Curse God's People to their Face even with bitter Words and venemous Expressions which shews them to be acted by the Instigation of another Spirit even that of Satan and Antichrist who are all for Railing and Reviling but the good Spirit of God is all for mild gentle and charitable Speeches Jud. 9. Michael the Arch-angel when contending with the Devil he Disputed about the Body of Moses durst not bring against him a railing Accusation but said The Lord rebuke thee The good Spirit of God where'er he rests produces kind Thoughts and charitable Expressions both which Jo. Bunyan is a Stranger to as is evident from p. 89. When Men Pray for a shew to be heard and thought some body in Religion there are two sorts of Men that Pray to this end 1st Your Trencher-Chaplains that thrust themselves into great Mens Families pretending the Worship of God when in truth the great Business is their own Bellies which were notably Painted out by Ahab's Prophets 1 K. 18. and also Nebuchadnezzar's Wise-men Dan. 2. who tho' they pretended great Devotion yet their Lusts and their Bellies were the great things aimed at by them in all their peices of Devotion Now can there be a greater Vncharitableness shewn than is couch'd in these few Words Wherein all the Chaplains of great Men without any exception are represented as a Company of gormandizing Epicures that make their Belly their God and to be as bad as Ahab's false Prophets which fed at Jezabel's Table and as bad as Nebuchadnezzar's Magicians who were initiated into the Black-Art and in a solemn League and Covenant with the Devil Good God! That a Man should publish to the World such Base and Scandalous Reflections on some Divines who for ought he knows to the contrary may be as good Christians and pious Persons as any in the Nation But if they call the Master of the House Beelzebub how much more shall they call them of his Houshold Mat. 10.25 May we not with more Truth call this Author a Corner-Chaplain That follows his poor Creatures that are deluded by him into every Corner of the House and there makes them Groan most bitterly or else he could not say as he does p. 73. I know 't is thus with them their Groans go up to Heaven from every Corner of the House I know they do Groan and that most bitterly Of this sort are they that creep into Houses and lead Captive silly Women laden with Sins and that is enough to make them Groan indeed 2 Tim. 3.6 But if this does not please him he must be contented to enjoy the Title of Tinker Chaplain as most agreeable to his old Trade tho' after all for want of Charity he proves to be but as sounding Brass or a tinkling Cymbal CHAP. IX FOR a farther Proof that Jo. Bunyan's Pretences to the Spirit are vain I shall produce his own Words in Evidence against him where he advises Parents not to teach their Children to Pray by any Form no not so much as the Lord's Prayer and then being not of themselves able to Pray extempore they must not Pray at all Evil Council indeed and which never came from the good Spirit of God it is p. 77.78 My Judgment is says he that Men go the wrong Way to learn their Children to Pray in going about so soon to teach them a set company of Words as is the common use of poor Creatures to do For to me it seems to be a better way for People betimes to tell their Children what cursed Creatures they are and how they are under the Wrath of God by reason of original and actual Sin as also to tell them the nature of Gods Wrath and the duration of the Misery which if they conscientiously do they would sooner learn their Children to Pray than they do But tho' this Author gives his Judgment in the Style of St. Paul yet does he shew by it that he has not the Spirit of God as St. Paul had for that Apostle advises Parents thus Ephes 6.4 Ye Fathers provoke not your Children to Wrath and to tell them they are all cursed Creatures in a damnable Condition and obnoxious to Hell torments which shall last for ever one would think were the ready way to provoke them to wrath indeed but St. Paul says provoke them not by any harsh Speeches at all as these certainly are which may sooner drive them
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