in the midst of the waters Especially over such Fish as carry mony in their mouths If they did not in plain terms endeavour to make parties in the Church that their own may at last appear to be the greatest by whatever under the pretext of Religion conveighs delight by that variety which pleases the generality of mankind Why should they not as well Preach extempore as pray so In their Sermons I am sure they were wont to use all the art and study that they could accommodating their Doctrines and expressions too that their pains might bear proportion to their Auditory and the fashion and example of those who were in greatest repute amongst them And I cannot divine what might be the cause of this different regard to prayer and Preaching unless they had more care in those speeches they directed unto men than they took about those which they presented unto God For they seem to me to have no greater promise of an assistance from Heaven in relation to the one than they have also with reference to the other Do they think that Text in the Eighth to the Romans proves effectually that the Holy Ghost assists them in their prayers because the Apostle has delivered that likewise the Spirit helpeth our infirmities because we know not what we should pray for as we ought c. If it be well weighed and considered with the Context it will only evidence our Saviours most earnest and wise Intercessions for us in Heaven by the holy Spirit which alwaies accompanies him The support of our minds under the greatest pressures we meet with in this world Or most that the Scripture being dictated by the Spirit has given us directions for the proper heads and â—â—â—â—er of our prayers and resolves still by some benign and secret influence which we are not able to describe to others to proportion our affections and elevate our minds to the importance of the concernments we pray for and the greatness of that Majesty to whom we petition And because if I were the greatest Critick in the world I should alwaies abhor the founding any necessary Doctrine upon the signification of a word in Scripture which words we know as in prophane Authors are frequently equivocal and restrain'd according to the compass of that matter in which they are Therefore I say nothing of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 nor of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 nor of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 nor of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 no nor concerning 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 neither But if men are resolved for ends that will not serve them at the day of Judgement to which they refer many things that may be ended here to make these words against their own will in contradiction to the reason and experience of all thinking men that are not either knavish or mad to express a promise of some extraordinary assistance from the Spirit now in our inventions of matter and words in prayer unto God They may as well rely if they are pleased with such waies of interpreting Scripture upon that promise of our Saviour made to the Apostles to enable them to preach and write the Doctrines of the Gospel John 16.13 Howbeit when he the Spirit of truth is come he will guide you into all truth And because there were Divine inspirations at the first which were necessary if God would deliver a Law by the mouths or writings of any selected out of the race of men Our gifted Brethren may if they please take occasion from the 10th of St. Matthew vers 19th and 20th to attempt any thing without premeditation or study and then to be sure we should be hard enough for them Since our Saviour there informs his Disciples that they need take no thought what or how the should speak because it should be given them in that hour i. e. when they might have occasion And he uses an Argument to raise and to confirm their belief of it For it is not ye that speak saies he but the Spirit of your Father which speaketh in you And yet I fancy that if our extempore men were in the same circumstances and put under those conditions which this Text supposes and were accused of something Capital before a Magistrate they would not only study all waies of clearing themselves to avoid the punishment what ever at last became of the guilt And this they would endeavour by all the means that a close consultation with their own thoughts could possibly suggest and not only with seriousness prepare an answer to any accusation of this nature But I believe too they would condescend to advise with the learned in the Law that they might if possibly avoid the Sentence of the Judge Nay in such cases whether they would fee bribe or make the greatest friends they could I leave to their own Consciences and experience that I may say nothing of making publick commotions to save themselves And as in business of this nature gifted men are inclined to think that such promises of assistance were only intended for a shorter time and not to reach this present age So though the Apostles Acts 2. Being fill'd with the Holy Ghost began to speak with divers languages as the Spirit gave them utterance they will submit their Spirits and condescend to the contrivance of heads of matter and modes of expression when they preach the Gospel though they are to speak in no other than their Mother Tongue Now why should this great care be had in their Sermons to the people when they usually have so slender a regard to what they utter in their prayers to God if there were no distinctions of times and seasons in relation to the promises and assistances of Gods Spirit For surely Preaching as well as praying is an ordinance to continue 'till the Elect are gathered and that will not be till the end of the world Unless they will affirm and give us too apparent an Argument to believe that the Spirit has so ordered matters that less pains and diligence are to be used when we address to God than when we speak only to the people And if any are so bold to talk thus I hate to refute such nonsence and blasphemy both together For it plainly appears that such men must be liable to the same rebuke which the chief Rulers of the Jews received from our Saviour recorded in the Gospel of St. John Chap. 12.43 Who though they believed on him did not confess him because they loved the praise of men more than the praise of God And let their ears be never so much circumcised they render themselves opposite to the true circumcision whose praise is not of men but of God Rom. 2.29 And how far such contrivances may comport with sincerity and be distant from that Hypocrisie which has so many woes attending it I shall leave to those who are concerned to adjust and content my self with that direction which the great Authour of our most excellent Religion has
state and condition he devoutly begs what he wants either in relation to himself alone or as a member of some particular society or else as he is within a larger community the whole race of mankind And of this sort of Prayer it is that our Saviour speaks in that never to be parallel'd Sermon on the Mount But thou when thou prayest enter into thy Closet and shut the door and pray unto thy Father which is in secret and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly Matth. 6.6 A sufficient caveat to the Pharisee and the Hypocrite and a distinction betwixt these and the disciples of our Lord. But 2. there is publick Prayer as well as private And that either in and with our families which are indeed smaller congregations when the Master exercises the office of the Priest and in his absence has thus much of his authority to intercede on earth in the behalf of his family and to become the mouth and Orator for the rest that altogether by a conjunction of affections and unity in words may petition those things necessary for them in common with others of humane nature and in those relations they bear to the family and to each other But 2. Prayer that is more publick is such as is made in the Church or other places of Christian Assemblies consigned to these publick offices and by a solemn dedication set apart to Sacred and Divine uses And this I shall have a more special regard to in what I shall recommend to your consideration in this discourse though men may also apply the particulars to their private devotions as frequently as they shall find them rationally suited and in this I would not seem to lay any yoke on the necks of disciples which they in reason may refuse to bear Now publick Prayers in more solemn conventions and among greater numbers assembled together have so apparently been offered from the beginning of the Church both under the Old and New-Testament that the pretension to a proof could not but be deemed vain and foolish this being the result of reason and assembling together for common worship being a duty imprinted on the souls of men to the performance of which the light of nature has been their conduct And if it required any arguments at all from reason we might presently understand that by this Gods honour is exalted when we jointly give a publick testimony of our piety and religion that by this we propagate these things in the world and by our examples provoke and stir up others to joyn in the same duty with our selves That common requests such as in publick we are supposed to make to which every individual may say Amen require a joynt and common consent and when our Prayers are thus connected with the unity of our minds and spirits they gain great degrees of power like a twisted Cord they become more strong and prevalent with God they offer a Sacred violence to Heaven and because God is pleased with such a Sacrifice draw down favours from the Father of mercies Moreover such Prayers are apt to be offered up with greater reverence and devotion when service is performed in a Sacred place in which God is more especially present at least by his dispersed train of Angels where the objects of sense cast a secret awe upon our minds and the mode and circumstances of such publick and Divine worship attended with proper Ceremonies and Solemnity are apt to move us to humility and adoration to excite within us the affections of our minds to fix our intentions that they may be united to their object make our passions such as are Divine and recal those swimming and tossing thoughts which at any time are apt to wander And finally when our most solemn Prayers shall be offer'd by an ordained or consecrated person Sacred or which is all one separated from the world to this imployment and dedicated unto God by resignation and solemnity by his own devotion and our Saviours institution that he may become a secondary intercessor betwixt the people and their Creator he weeping betwixt the Porch and the Altar and crying out to Heaven for pardon and deliverance in that Sacred language Spare us Good Lord Spare thy People It cannot be but such a service must sound as pleasantly in the ears of God as it is acceptable and rapturous to good men And when we are thus gather'd together exercising the most exalted strains of our minds when they are screwed beyond ordinary proportions Christ himself is in the midst of us he joyns in our Intercessions and Prayers the holy Angels spread their wings over us to adorn the solemnity and God himself beholds us from above looks through the Clouds with smiles upon us smells a sweetness from the incense of our Prayers and that he may look farther dissipates all intercepting clouds And this shall suffice to shew what Prayer is CHAP. II. LEt us now in the second place consider what may be the import of some phrases and precepts in Sacred Writ which seem to set forth this duty of prayer as if it were to be continued without interruption The Euchites of old were apt to conclude such precepts and phrases as Pray without ceasing Continuing instant in Prayer and the like to be obligatory in the full latitude of their expressions as if men were to do nothing else but pray yet other duties that are required of us both as Christians and men too abundantly refute such unreasonable interpretations Besides the allotments of all moral or pious actions ought to be proportionate to their ends as the quantity of a dose of Physick is increased or diminished according to the distemper of the Patient varied so to temperaments and seasons as may best expel the venom of the disease resist its violence and recover health to him that wants it Now a great design and end of prayer being to raise fervor and devotion in our souls it ought no longer to continue than we are able to keep up the intention of our thoughts the elevation of our minds and the due order and sallies of our affections Hence is it that we are informed by S. Austin that the Christians in Egypt had frequent prayers being brief ejaculations and short Collects that a tedious continuation might not weary their affections but their minds might be intended suitable to the seriousness and gravity of the duty and they might not prove either flat or stupid lest the prayer it self should in the progress be nothing else but an effusion of words without attention or manifestation of affection From whence also our own Church has ordered her Publick Service so as to consist of various and distinct parts suitable to the variety and diversity of our affections that all may be successively imployed and none at once too long burdened and therefore our prayers are usually brief giving intervalls and respite both to Priest and people that their souls and affections
â—hildren kneeled down and prayâ—◠〈◊〉 though they were upon the shore â—â—ct 21.5 And certainly we cannot possibly offend whilst we imitate such holy and primitive examples 'T is true indeed it was a custom amongst the Jews especially towards the period of their Oeconomy to pray standing in the Synagogues and therefore we read that the Pharisees like some among our selves loved to pray standing in their Synagogues as well as in the corners of the streets Math. 6.5 But because these did it that by the elevation of their bodies they might be seen of men you may not perhaps think it fitting to take such for an example But howsoever it is no less but more certain that the primitive Christians did sometimes pray standing on their feet as well as kneeling upon their knees For besides the posture in their devotions on the Lords day it is notoriously known that they did not kneel in their publick worship from Easter to Whitsuntide But then they gave these two reasons in excuse of their posture 1. That they might by some outward gesture and significant ceremony express their joy for the resurrection of our Saviour 2. That it was in token also of their confident expectation of the descent of the Holy Ghost Both these things were lawful and proper whilst Christianity was contemned by the Rulers of the world and such great temptations were given to the proselytes to this religion to apostatize That I may draw then towards the conclusion of this particular since the gestures of the body have been differently used in prayer unto God suitable to the various wayes of signifying respect in divers Countries and the constitutions of those Churches to whose customs men subjected themselves and since all such things are still to be used in subordination to a greater and more lofty end the raising and testifying the affections and faith of mens minds I shall leave you to practise Saint Austins rules That in private prayer ye so frame the gestures of your bodies as may best conduce to the elevation of your minds and the continuance of great devotion in your prayers But in publick that ye conform to the commands and practice of that Christian Church which imposes nothing sinful as a condition of her communion within whose pale you are inclosed that ye may not become factious and schismatical divide from substantials for a ceremony nor rend the Church and make a separation for what is really in it self indifferent Humility and reverence do certainly become such as address themselves to God and he that has lived here among us that upon the view of our usual approaches to our superiours and the custom of the nation in their addresses to one another can find another gesture more aptly and decently expressing these things than bowing the body uncovering the head and bending the knee may if our superiors please who have authority to order indifferent matters use it and recommend it to others Nay obtain a Law to force it upon all Yet this will be but little to their profit since I know none that upon such slender terms will relinquish their own right to make way for others to enter their possessions because they will not make religion to consist in the use or forbearance of things that are indifferent in themselves But howsoever till this time of tryal comes we were in my judgment better fulfill what God once confirmed by an Oath That unto him every knee should bow and every tongue should swear by his name Isai 45.23 Which Saint Paul thought good to express the subjection of mankind to the supream Being by in the New Testament As I live saith the Lord every knee shall bow to me and every tongue shall confess to God Rom. 14.11 And truly when any good Christians pretend to express their real and devout subjection to God 't is not so well to forsake the ceremony which God himself the command of the Church and the reason of men using the ceremonies of this Nation especially when it is conjoyned with custom may render not only lawful but expedient But yet I must proceed farther That with the former circumstances supposed kneeling at prayers will become a duty where the formentioned impediments do not plead for a necessary and unavoidable dispensation 'T is true indeed that bodily exercise profiteth little yet something it does if not conjoyned with the devotion of the mind and does not tend to the improvement of the soul in the habits of vertue and true religion But when this accomplishes the ends to which it is most rationally designed it then becomes such a sacrifice with which God is well pleased I beseech you therefore brethren as St. Paul exhorts by the mercies of God that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice holy and acceptable unto God which is your reasonable divine service Rom. 12. 1. Nay we do not worship with the whole man when we neglect Gods service with a part Moreover it seems not to be a reasonable service when the actions of the body do not accompany the affections of the mind when both are joyn'd together in this world We think it to be rational to express the petitions conceived in our hearts by the language of our tongues Why should we not then signifie our humility that must accompany such prayers as God accepts by those gestures that represent and express it 'T is exceeding natural to mankind to make shew of their inward affection by external signs and the kindest demonstrations that the actions of their bodies are able to represent and we put a force and restraint upon our selves when our hearts are full of fervour and devotion and yet we will not manifest it by our actions and deportments But certainly he who has created the bodies of men as well as their souls has an equal right to the service of both and he that made the whole man will not be satisfied with a partial sacrifice we must worship therefore and fall down and kneel before the Lord our Maker Our redemption also no less calls for the homage of our bodies than it does for the reverence and devotion of our souls The Apostle sayes Ye are bought with a price therefore glorifie God in your bodies and your spirits which are Gods 1. Cor. 6.20 Nay if we expect the final glorification of both 't is but equal that they should both conspire in all the demonstrations of vertue and religion where both may contribute their several parts That so since their interest is united they may in conjunction work out their salvation with fear and trembling Lastly The humble and decent postures of our bodies when we address our selves to God do not only demonstrate the internal devotion and reverence of our minds but according to the observation of all excepting such as are unwilling to make the experiment they excite and continue our internal affections recall our wandrings and put us in remembrance of what we are about if
they are uttered For since all our expressions in prayer are not only to raise our devotions suitable to the conceptions of our minds but they are also designed to signifie the wishes and desires of our souls 't is reasonable that both should run parallel and our expressions equal our wants and necessities or else our language cannot answer the design of uttering words in prayer I cannot deny but that sometimes the inward conceptions of men in private may be too big for their mouths to express and there a sigh or a groan may prevail with God for what the tongue is not able fully to utter There as the Reverend Dr. Owen more clearly expresses it they may mourn as a Dove or chatter as a Crane and he sayes 't is sufficient in that condition But in publick prayers when one becomes the Orator for the rest petitions ought to be framed so as to express the general wants of those that are present as Christians united into one body being members in particular of that society of which Christ himself is the head that all may be concerned in such common requests and joyn together with one heart and with one soul and with undivided affections say Amen at the close and period But yet Fourthly Our words in prayer must be as few and our petitions as brief as may consist with plainness and perspicuity Not only because what is over and beyond this seems redundant and to no purpose and therefore unreasonable nor only because a tedious protraction and unnecessary length in devotion dulls the spirits and makes our affections unactive and stupid it quenching the fervor and intention of our minds and turns much of our prayer all whilst we remain thus indisposed into meer babble and effusion of words when our minds cannot accompany our expressions or the language of another uttered in our behalf But as we have no example of a tedious and long prayer in the Scriptures so have we prohibitions and arguments against it Solomon exhorting to external signs of reverence and devotion when men go to the house of God Be not rash with thy mouth sayes he and let not thine heart be hasty to utter any thing before God for God is in heaven and thou on earth therefore let thy words be few Ecclesiast 5.1 2. And if any one should unreasonably restrain this Text only to the subsequent vow yet the argument urged why men should be then sparing of their words will as well conclude in prayer as in vows in both which things we speak to such a God as is in heaven whilst we stand at a distance on the earth Our Saviours advice in his Sermon on the Mount is when thou prayest use not vain repetitions as the heathen do for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking And he presently gives his own Disciples the form of a full and most expressive prayer Mat. 6 7. Nay if we will be inclined by his own example which any would think that Christians ought even then when by the circumstances he was in an enemy to his religion would conclude him to be devout being fill'd with pain and fear of farther tortures that attended him when he was in an agony so great that his sweat was as it were large glutinous drops of blood when as S. Matthew sayes his soul was sorrowful even unto death and S. Luke tells us that he prayed more earnestly Even then we find his words to be no more than these Father if thou be willing remove this cup from me nevertheless not my will but thine be done Luke 22.42 Nor did the earnestness of his strong desire force his thoughts to break out into a flood of expressions but allowing himself some small intervals continuing his devotion he returned to his prayer repeating again the same words Matth. 26.44 But I shall speak more of these Texts hereafter To proceed therefore to shew that brevity is an ornament to our prayers the very nature and usual custom of petitions will bring a sufficient convincing testimony to all those who have not very odd conceptions of the object to whom they make religious addresses These by the reason of men are then judged to be best drawn when they include brevity and fulness of matter and the shorter do we usually frame them by how much the greater the person is to whom they are to be presented And the reason of this may possibly be not only because the serious affairs of great men that are in publick employments will not permit much diversion but for that they are presumed to be wise and discerning able to understand quicker than those who are placed in a more vulgar station A breviat may be sufficient to inform some men when others must be largely instructed from point to point and must have things variously diversified and often reiterated before they will suit with their apprehensions And shall we think the Omniscient God who knows our wants before we petition to be less intelligent or compassionate than men that he stands in need of so many words and variety of expressions to cause him to understand or to incline him to grant what is convenient for us But this will be treated of in a larger manner in the Inferences from the whole discourse And therefore this head shall be concluded with a brief answer to one plea which may be made for a long continued prayer The objection is that our Saviour was engaged all night in prayer Luke 6.12 and some other expressions and examples too we have in the Scriptures that may import and signifie some length in prayer But if we consider them and were either upon extraordinary occasions or so circumstantiated that they differed exceedingly from our present state and cannot be a pattern unto us Or else when Christ or his Apostles continued long in prayer by giving themselves short respits and allowing some intervals between they returned to the same prayers again which might be short enough for all the objection Yet when we have the same Spirit and measures of assistance with such authority and revelations as the had and fall under their circumstances which can never be their extraordinary practice may become a copy for our imitation In the mean time since it is most suitable to the reason of prayer with reference to God a greeable to our natural and unavoidable infirmities and that infinite distance betwixt our Maker and our selves it is fitting that our prayers should be as brief and short as may consist with plainness and perspicuity And therefore Lastly Upon the view of all this it is convenient and for the most part necessary too that both the matter and expressions of our prayers should be fixed and premeditated For if our words in prayer ought to be plain and intelligible if they must be both grave and serious if they ought to be full in the expression of our wants and if they must be as brief and short
proceed on to the enquiries which remain that may be of more general use and benefit CHAP. VI. I Come now to the fifth head propounded to be discoursed on to make enquiry into what religious and devout men ought to pray for that the matter of our petitions may be such as comports with wisdom and prudence and the general rules of Gods word as well as the matter lawful and convenient Now to enlarge this particular by mentioning all those things which the peculiar or accidental wants of men may make necessary to become the subject of Christian petitions would not only swell and enlarge this head of my Discourse beyond its just bounds and proportion but also far exceed my skill and I fancy any bodies else even the quick'st and most artificial extemporary mans though he were never so contemplative and formally grave unless he might have a faculty of omniscience which more ignorant mortals cannot find in themselves For though we might be able without inspiration to instance in all those general matters that might be fitting to be ingredients into our Common prayer which we are to use in society with others as we are all members of one body of which Christ is the glorious and supream head during the remaining part of his mediatory office yet the conditions circumstances and imployments of mens lives as they are individual and distinct form each other are so multiplied and diversified that 't is impossible for one man unless he could know and experience the concernments of all to enumerate the particulars that one time or other ought to become the subject matter of single mens petitions For a man may beg what is convenient or necessary for himself that may be to anothers great damage which if improved but a little in its length will be a great argument against such particular confessions thanksgivings and prayers too as are offered in behalf of a large multitude from the view of a single mans particular sins favours received or wants that he needs a supply for when few or none or however all cannot in judgment assent to And therefore as to the matter of single mens petitions no other rules can be given but what may suit some time or other with the common frailties and infirmities of men and we must leave their various and present necessities or what they upon a probable prospect view to influence themselves assisted by the rules and aids of the holy Spirit prudently with the help of their own reason to direct them in the great and important affair of petitioning God with reference to themselves However in general we are to pray for temporal spiritual and eternal blessings yet not without some difference of affection the first being less necessary and inferiour also to the other two ought to be petitioned for with a lower degree of ardency and affection and at all times in subserviency to the latter Now in order to the obtainment of such things as are the lawful subject of our prayers we must petition the removal of all impediments that may obstruct the possession oâ— those good things which we ask oâ— God from whom comes every good and perfect gift And these are especially our sins and temptations and the evil ends to which we may design the blessings themselves when once obtained Further we must in our prayers beg those assistances and helps which God has promised to incourage the means in the obtainment of any lawful design and these are the influences of his blessing and the aids of his holy Spirit Such things as these as they are the purchace of the blood of Christ and graciously promised in Sacred Writ to those who qualifie themselves for their reception so any promise being the foundation of our prayer we may ask the thing included in it without sin or danger provided we understand the promise a right and we shall receive a gracious answer to our petition if we ask not amiss or the thing prayed for may be convenient or necessary at that time And this is all that I intend to say with reference to those general rules to guide our devout prayers by according to which we may take some measure of our particular wants and discern the lawful matter of our petitions But since we are to pray for persons also as well as things and not only for our selves but others universal charity and the precept of loving our neighbours as our selves will rationally conclude that in general the matter of our prayers for others must be the same only mutato nomine with the petitions for our selves and will only admit of some variation according to the change of circumstances and relations And therefore I shall add no new directions but what may easily be collected from the former I need not I hope pretend to remember much less to inform Christian men that they must pray for Kings and all in authority for parents and benefactors for the houshold of faith or the conversion of Infidels for the Ministers of Gods Word and Sacraments of what degree soever especially those to whom originally was committed the government and conduct of Christs Church upon earth for the prosperity of those from whom we receive our education and knowledge or any of the conveniences of this life if they are living The universal race of mankind must some way or other have an interest in our prayers I exhort says S. Paul that first of all prayers intercessions and giving of thanks be made for all men for Kjngs and all that are in authority that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour 1 Tim. 2.1 2 3. Such things as these if we duly and sincerely practise will cause our prayers to ascend to heaven like incense it self whose smoak joyned and pierc'd the clouds and approached even the Throne of God And as the just here live by faith so must they live and die in prayer as the Phoenix with her wings kindles her own funeral pile and then dies in the midst of perfumes But notwithstanding these general directions and rules we must needs fail in the matter of our prayers if we should at any time petition those for our selves or others which things God has either forbidden us to ask or however not promised to grant If we pray for what he has forbidden us to ask we then sin against his command and then our sacrifice becomes our sin and the motives to it are a perfect snare And if we pray for what he has never promised to grant we cannot then pray in faith because we cannot without presumption believe that we shall receive that in virtue of our prayer which God has never ingaged to give and 't is plain impudence to expect from him that he will make such returns to our petitions Nay the Apostle says let not that man think that he shall receive any thing
to have their advantage by it and have several years tried their skill but Gods Providence was too hard for them And even yet praised for ever be the great name of the eternal Jehovah though the Romanists as well as other weak yet presumptuous men have thought us marching directly towards Rome we have a Protestant King to rule and govern us such generous and faithful Counsellors who advise him and such skilful and stout Champions to encounter them and above all the God of Protestants to undermine and resist them that we may yet say The Lord is our helper we will not fear what man can do unto us Nay though an host of men should be encamped against as we will not slavishly fear evil although we are sensible that in this Cause of Religion which loves not to be planted with the point of a Sword our Adversaries have exchanged their writings for strategems left their Arguments and were almost ready to run to their weapons But whither will zeal transport a man beyond the present subject of debate when he meets with an enemy that is always betraying and ready to pierce a mans Bowels I shall therefore inforce this Argument and Inference against the Papists prayers in an unknown tongue with two Considerations that seem to me to determine the Controversie and are sufficient with reference to this particular to abate the kindness of any person at least all that are well instructed to the Roman Church and check any inclinations to the embracement of such a Communion whole constitution hinders them from understanding their prayers that ignorance may make men fit for their devotions and parting with their reason and sence too they may be drawn after the Popes Chariot with their eyes put out and at last be led into a feigned Purgatory howling and squaling as if they were all Quakers that he may when he pleases as the silver moves open the doors or keep them fast and when he turns the Key at last instead of giving them joy and liberty they may find they are entered into a real Hell from which there is no redemption at all But yet before we go thither or pray away our own understandings in such a worship in which it is impossible for those to joyn who ken not Latin in which it is delivered Let us 1. Consider whether St. Paul be not above the Pope and the word of God rather to be credited than the cunningly devised Fables of men This great Apostle and Doctor of the Gentiles 1 Cor. 14.14 acquaints the World with such language as this If I pray says he in an unknown tongue my Spirit prayeth but my undersanding is unfruitful By unknown tongue every body knows what is meant but in the latter clauses some may be ignorant and others make use of these expressions and their own vanity and unskilfulness together to lead men from Latin Service into a rude and ungovernable devotion By Spirit therefore is meant the gift of the Spirit not flowing forth in extempore expressions now but in strange languages in the times of the Apostles as appears by St. Pauls interpretation of himself For when he had exhorted men to employ one of the Spiritual gifts forementioned in this Chapter to the edification of the Church ver the 12th In the next he explains it by an unknown tongue Nay in the very particular Text quoted the praying of the Spirit is apparently the praying in an unknown tongue If I pray sayes he in an unknown tongue my Spirit prayeth but mine understanding is unfruitful That is though he understood the language himself yet it being unknown to others his being acquainted with the sense of his own prayers could not render them beneficial to those that heard them And therefore he concludes upon the whole that he would pray with the Spirit yet so that he might pray with the understanding too He would not only pray in such a language by himself which he understood that he might accompany his words with due intention and suitable affections But he would pray also that his understanding might be fruitful unto others by putting his petitions into such a language as the people might be able to understand that so they might joyn with him and be edified by it Secondly Consider that prayer not understood by those who are to joyn in it being uttered in a language which they are ignorant of loses those blessed influences and ends to which it was designed and ought to have upon the Devotionists particularly by their understandings to move their wills and obtaining their consent to raise their affections suitable to the petitions made for them that so the act of the Minister may become their own and they knowing what is delivered may rationally consent and earnestly desire the things prayed for and have their several interests in all For they are Beasts rather than men who are driven on they know not whither and say Amen to such petitions or at all adventures assert the truth of such propositions which they have no apprehension of and may with reference to their understandings be as well false as true In such a case they fix their seal either by the example or authority of another to what for ought they know obliges them to ruin and may sign their execution when they hope to receive a pardon It is impossible at man should with any reason signifie his assent to that or heartily wish for those things mentioned in a prayer when he does not understand whether they are included in it or no Unless men can think it rational to set their hands at all adventures to every paper that is brought to them when they may sign a Bond instead ofa Release or make away an estate instead of making it sure to them But I may be confident men are wary enough in this and need not unless they are foolish to a Proverb any Monitor to caution them in it though their want of skill may cause them to advise in some nice and critical difficulties And is it reasonable think ye that the Children of this world should be always wiser than the Children of light Or that any to whom the glorious Gospel is revealed should be more cautious and exact in relation to their secular welfare than they are with reference to their eternal advantages Will they beg a Serpent instead of a Fish or desire a Stone instead of Bread A little Child will hardly be so gull'd and cheated but when such an exchange is profer'd will throw it away with rage and contempt But further that which aggravates the fault of men so easily imposed upon is that where they give their assent without reason and desire what they do not understand whether it be advantagious or unprofitable to them they chuse what is no object of their choice because it is impossible for them to apprehend any goodness at all in that whose nature and accommodation to them they are totally ignorant of
of those souls which he has created in us to render us capable of serving him here with a rational devotion and for the enjoyment of eternal communion with him hereafter Can the great God whose glory is inscribed on the highest Heavens who makes the earth tremble at his presence who rolls the world up and down according to the appointment of his will whose disproportion to any of his most stately creatures is unbounded and infinite can he admit such familiarity from the workmanship of his hands as shall take away almost all awful veneration and regard to him 'T is true indeed our blessed Saviour by the Sacrifice of himself has made us Kings and Priests to God and reconciled us by his blood who were before at enmity with him But he has not made us independent or united us so closely to him as if there remained no distance or disproportion betwixt us although the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is a cement exceedingly honourable to us in whom when the Divinity assumed the human nature yet the nature were not mixed no not when they made but one person God has through Christ admitted us to Grace here and promised us eternal Glory hereafter But this favour is an argument to heighten our devotion not to abate the external signs of distance in our worship nor to detract from that wonderful reverence springing from some preparative considerations of Gods excellencies which we have in our minds and ought alwayes to accompany our prayers Serve the Lord with fear sayes David nay rejoyce also before him with trembling Psal 2.11 And can this agree with rude behaviour and odd language and brawling noises which are frequently heard from wild Zealots and extempore Devotionists whilst they are praying to an Almighty Great and Omnipotent Being We find in Tully de divin lib. 1. That the Romans even in their Heathen worship commanded the people ut in rebus divinis quae publicè fierent faverent linguis That in all publick Oblations to the Gods they should take care to keep awful silence and not suffer noise to drown devotion as if God were their familiar associate How disproportionate then must the prodigious brawlings and wild actions and fantastick intermixtures of the highest elevations and lowest cadencies of mens voices in continued prayer be to the Majesty of that Being whom they at the same time pretend both to reverence and adore Such deportment indeed for men that have a design upon the people may suit and endear such Constitutions as without consulting their understandings at all may be pleased with such percussions upon their Nerves and make them just ready for a battel It may well enough suit with the hidden designs of aspiring men who would advance themselves in the conceipt of the multitude to the wisdom and renown of immortal Gods and then exhibit their Ordinances in Thunder and Lightning to frighten the people into a stricter observation and therefore may proclaim the subtilty of those who love Reformation when 't is ushered in by Rebellion and are of no Religion but such as is introduced by force of Arms. This was a successful way of enterprize to those that knock'd down a true Religion with the butt end of what was false and as if they had been Gods they thundered first with Powder and Bullet before they gave forth their Laws and did not publish them to the people till they were written with the points of their Swords dipp'd in blood But however such things might advantage a Cause that could not be managed but in a strange and new habit of Religion yet certain it is that a rude and boisterous worshipping of the Deity can no way comport with the humility of those who know the distance betwixt their Maker and themselves and are desirous to fear him here that so they may enjoy him hereafter And can any thing be more inconsistent with right reason than willingly to admit the publick Offices of the Desk and Pulpit to be perforformed with a more idle and confident deportment than the lightest and most ridiculous actions of a Stage To see a man who pretends to incline God by his petitions to favour him or perswade men by his arguments and reasons to command the one or hector the other will cause the spectator easily to conclude that his passion will sooner disturb himself than his prayer or reason perswade another 'T is true indeed that such wild deportment and imperious language to some persons apt to be frightned with extravagant behaviour or loud noises may prove a method fit to make some strange impressions and the suitableness of a mournful complexion or an affected tone with phrases uttered that make a grateful percussion on the Nerves of those who having melancholy constitutions are of mournful aspects may appear pleasant though it heightens their distemper And others may conclude a boisterous behaviour when it is accompanied with strong lungs to be the fruits of a well managed zeal and great signs of grace and devotion yet all this may be nothing but design because God may appear in a still voice as well as in thunder and lightning and amongst men of all perswasions there are hypocritical and mimical representations of these things Nay Satan himself who for his own ends can play the Ape by way of imitation in divine affairs can be as potent in a Foxes case to deceive the simple as he is formidable in a Lyons skin to terrifie those that are more stout and daring And certain it is that he deceives more dangerously under the Fleece of a silly Lamb than when he spreads the Tallons of an Ospray and we ought to have the greater caution when he appears like an Angel of light than when he becomes visible by his own complection The worst men may sometimes be the most severe reprovers of Sin and Vice who yet design nothing less than amendment in themselves As that wicked Spirit who wrought wonders by Priscilla that blasphemous Montanist was in appearance so pious that he would frequently rebuke open faults ut videretur corrector vitiorum that he might seem to be a corrector of vices But as for those drailing tones and long tail'd expressions which are so bewitching to mournful tempers They being usually either the effects of craft or the products of melancholy dispositions though vulgarly deem'd the gifts of God and fruits growing from the operation of the Spirit Yet there cannot be a greater enemy to the main Doctrines and practice of Christianity nor to the peace of men professing that Religion than a dull and melancholy temper of mind For this is as formidable an adversary to our Religion as it was in Judea to the gift of Prophecy and so much did it interfere with that there as to cause even a proverbial Speech That the Holy Spirit never resides in a sorrowful man Besides in all these things which if we retire become the objects of our senses a good humorist may as
able to blast us in a moment and destroy us with a word and scatter abroad dust and ashes with the breath of his nostrils and can when he pleases cause an hasty word uttered before him to choak the person who is bold to speak it nay without pointing the arrow backward cause either it self to perish upon the string or him that is shooting it to drop down dead before him And is this God with a ruder confidence to be address'd to The Egyptian Gods were figured with their fingers in their months to command awe and forbid clamours to those who came nigh to worship them And shall the true sensible and living Being who is infinite in all glorious perfections be more confidently dealt with by those who pretend to a pure worship than the deportment of men durst testifie before those who indeed were no Gods Shall the common nature and reason of men in a land of darkness give rules to render devotion strict and no limits be imposed to the rudeness of Gods creatures in a land of light When a society of men agree together to desire any boon or favour from one that is their superiour on Earth how cautious are they in wording their Address How do they chuse such as they are able to confide in to draw it up With what a critical seriousness and grave consideration is it afterwards review'd by the whole body How strict are they in the most minute circumstances And when they have passed it through many objections and amendments how choice are they in pitching upon one that has a good tongue a quick apprehension and is most powerful both in Argument and Rhetorick to present it in writing and if need be to speak in relation to the heads of it And shall the great God of all the World in comparison to whom the tallest Cedars are but shrubs who can drive all mankind before him like dust before a storm who can cause Kings and Emperors too to vail their Crowns and lay their Scepters at his feet Shall this infinite Majesty be address'd to so carelesly and inconsiderately as if he were our familiar Companion Cannot he discharge the Artillery of Heaven and cause his Lightning to consume the World or the voice of his Thunder to make us afraid Is not he able to recall our breath in as short a moment as that in which he first gave us life and make us a prey to rottenness and Vermin The great Maker and Preserver of the World is not certainly so small a thing as the hasty and rude devotions of some men might cause others to believe that he is Nay that we may not conjecture that because he needs not adoration and homage from any even his most rational creatures because he wants nothing to render him eternally happy neither the outward respect of the bodies of men nor their internal acts of reverence and devotion to make additions to his own glory he neither regards the one nor minds the other See himself attesting his own Dignity and declaring what he expects from those who being the workmanship of his hands he has caused by his favour to become related to him and rebuking those Priests that were too bold either with himself or such things as were dedicated to his Service A Son saies he honoureth his Father and a Servant his Master If then I am a Father where is mine honour and if I be a Master where is my fear unto you O Priests that despise my name And when they confidently ask wherein have we despised it His answer is Ye offer polluted bread upon mine Altar and say that the Table of the Lord is contemptible And for that they offered the blind and the sick and the lame Offer it now saies he to thy Governour will he be pleased with thee or accept thy person first Chap. of Malac. That lofty one who inhabiteth Eternity whose we are and whom we serve will not accept of such services to himself as are not worthy enough to be given to men And how indeed is it possible that he can either in justice or honor Unless he should relax the reins of Government and cast things into an eternal confusion by a voluntary departure from his own Glory which yet he has resolved not to give to another But yet omitting other Arguments if our own reason when divorc'd from passion will conclude that we ought to pay deference to others either distinct from or of the same natures with our selves suitable to that dignity they obtain in the universe or the several degrees that some of our own species are justly advanced and exalted to by any regular and commanded motion and if we are when we depart not from our own Inferences obliged to be cautious in our-deportment to other men rendring honour to whom honour is due Certainly if we have a true notion of the Deity and that the God whom we worship is self-existent and includes all possible perfection There is much more reason that we should be very circumspect about the actions and homage which we devote to him The Apostle informs us that the worship that is expected under the Gospel must be such as comports with the principles of right reason and therefore he does exhort when he might have commanded and beseech the Romans when he might have Canonically injoin'd them I beseech you brethren by the mercies of God that ye present your bodies a living Sacrifice holy acceptable to God which is your reasonable Service Rom. 12.1 And as he draws an Argument for such an invitation from the mercies of God in this place So he infers in another from the price of our redemption that we must glorifie God in our bodies and our Spirits which are his 1 Cor. 6.20 And since both were Created and Redeemed by him 't is but equal that he should have the Services of both And because we with faith and hope expect that future Glory should as well reward our Bodies as our Souls it is but reasonable that both should join in the discharge of those duties which our Creator and Redeemer too has commanded for us not only as testimonies of our gratitude for all but as conditions too to qualifie us for the possessions of Eternal life and prepare us both to enjoy and relish the Glorious and everlasting refreshments above which are only to be had in such a gracious and transporting presence as the great God in his Glorious Trinity makes accompanied with his trains of Angels and the Spirits of just men made perfect CHAP. XII NOw from all the foregoing Discourse at large we may without prejudice or severity charge our Brethren who upon the false pretence of greater Reformation separate from us and become our Adversaries with these following particulars in which they are either defective in or over-do those rational and Divine acts of worship to God which discharging our Tribute and Homage to him become a service acceptable and well pleasing Whilst
in the mean time these wilful or at least ignorant Separatists pretend still with the greatest confidence to be the best if not the only worfhippers in Spirit and in truth But this assertion is vain and fond Because First They usually separate what the great God has joined and accepts together Nor do they worship him or at least they account it not necessary with their outward man as well as with the hidden man of the heart 'T is true indeed bodily worship profiteth little yet something it does but nothing at all when it is divorc'd from the intention and affections of the mind because it is a perfect demonstration of Hypocrisie which is very odious both to God and man But yet men cannot well pretend the devotion of their minds especially so as to convince others when it is not accompanied with humble and suitable deportments of their bodies For if there were no regard to be had to mens bodily gestures when they pretend to pay homage and worship to God then if we argue like men that have reasonable souls given them to discern betwixt good and evil it must be because our Maker knowing the designs of our hearts does not expect external demonstrations of what he concludes to be lodged within us But then we need no other pains to address our selves but only to raise our conceptions to the strongest and most fixed thoughts nimble apprehensions would be enough to compose a prayer and it would be utterance sufficient if we did but only temper our lips cough and raiseflegm into our throats nay without any action of our bodies at all if our prayer were composed or rather intended within our selves without the delivery of our own inventions or any signification of the purports of our hearts by the language of our tongues And if this were right Women themselves might bring forth too without any travail or pains to them if they could but keep their own counsel But alas such notions as these in those prayers which are in common do not signifie so much as a man that gapes when he ought to speak For even words in prayer serve only to utter our minds and are no more than an external sign and representation of what we had before inwardly conceived And since this is by all men of sence accounted to be a service acceptable to God why may he not receive the signatures and impressions of our souls by any other corporal demonstration Why cannot the lifting up of our hands to our mouths and kissing them as in old time be proper adoration Why cannot inclining our heads or bowing our bodies still continue to be a certain token of reverence and submission and of worship too Why cannot kneeling or prostration upon the ground Religiously signifie the humility devotion and the most profound lowliness of our minds Especially since 't is as old as David to worship and fall down and to kneel also before the Lord our Maker But if such reasoning may not be admitted by those who account all reason carnal from the experience of their own especially when it contradicts themselves If men can at all be brought to themselves nay but so far as not to think that Adams Fall has not beaten out the brains of his Posterity If we approvedly use words in our devotions to God although he knows our conceived petitions when no expressions are uttered by our mouths discerning our thoughts a far off Nor do I desire that even this plain position may be precarious or granted by Adversaries without proof since if they will but yield God to be a Spirit they may easily conjecture that he can be more quickly sensible of the thoughts of our souls especially if they account him to be infinite too by a certain near and prying intuition the mode of which is not so adapted to our apprehensions than having not the organs of sense by which we understand and express things he can be said in a literal sence to hear our prayers But for all this in publick prayers we having others to join with us as we use words to signifie our petitions which express the sentiments of our minds So do we also by habits and gestures represent our devotions and conceptions to others to raise their affections in proportion to our own that they by all means possible understanding what we are about may be inclined to assent and say Amen and be prevailed on to frame themselves into the same resemblance of mind and body that there may not only be an unity in our common worship but Uniformity too And if these other signs besides words in the postures of our bodies or both in conjunction may effectually conduce to the same end which is the raising and signifying our devotion I see no reason why the actions of other members of our bodies besides the articulate motion of our tongues that notoriously declare profound humility and present our devotions and signifie in the eyes of all the world unless it be to those who are resolved to shut them in their prayers to avoid the Argument our homage to and dependance on God should not be used in worshipping our Maker as well as words which an absolute necessity of understanding one another has improved and made copious by custom and art and a long time since were rendered fashionable in the world as being more ready than other signs and representations from any different members of the body For these are also the action and labour of the tongue and lips It will appear to all men that in prayer and devotion the body ought to accompany the mind they being such intimate and united friends that both make but one man because any that in private address themselves to God when they are in different appartments from one another and when they enter into their Closets and are still if they pray with any earnestness and affection being moved to it by the consideration of that great God to whom they address their own meanness when compared to him or the absolute necessity of obtaining those things which they petition for they express their minds with such servor and humility as affect their bodies and cast them into postures that customarily signifie and represent these things to other men However methinks they who dissenting from the Service of our Church are advanced to be the mouth of others ought in justice to declaim for the worship of mens bodies since commonly the motions and activity of their bodies in all even their publick devotions is that which more recommends them to their people than the sense of their petitions or the decency of the words by which they express it But let us argue this thing fairly with our selves and then can any man who has stript himself of prejudice and prepossessions in his enquiries about the worship of his Maker do otherwise than conclude that we nearer arrive at the perfection of that homage due to him by how much
Scabb who start in their sleep as if they had gotten Buggs about them and not only delight themselves in dreams but greedily impose the notions of their pillows and the dictates of their disturbed bodies on others When upon a more strict enquiry they may justly attribute all to fancy and the most unaccountable imagination If these things are so our faith certainly is not now less precious nor ought it to be attended with inferiour regard howsoever it may be despised by the ignorant or prophane nor must the Argument of the Council be less valued but more Since this Mystery of iniquity in propagating false Doctrine together with Schism and Rebellion too in extempore prayer is mixed with so much pride in the deliverer and so easily works upon the melted and ductile judgements of the hearers that both are deceived if they are not a little Knavish And when matters are come to this pass I can conclude no less than that if this be permitted the blind will still lead the blind 'till we all fall together into the Ditch when error and mistakes must lead the multitude and triumphantly captivate the minds of the simple which every where are the greatest number But give me leave farther to recommend one consideration more against this extempore and rash way of publick prayer which seems to render it unworthy of the Deity as much as unbecoming men who yet pretend to consider in all things but this And that is because when men offer to the great Majesty of the Universe such unconsidered and unpremeditated devotion they demonstrate to the world that there is but little awe and dread upon their minds of that greatness and power of him to whom they make their Addresses and it must cause strangers to their Religion on to believe that the God whom they worship either does not regard what they offer or else has given them a large liberty to talk to him in what manner they please without danger or punishment to any of them And what a God he will then be concluded to be is obvious to every ones consideration and inference What will an Heathen say in this case but that if the fear of the Gods introduced Religion into the World These men having no fear banish Religion and the Gods together For can that person own the Christians God who in publick evidences so little fear and reverence to him Can he dread the displeasure of his Prince or any other person with whom he converses who values not what he saies to him neither regarding the method or significancy of his words or the phrases by which he represents his mind And can any man who allows himself time to retire and consider with nothing but his own thoughts about him conjecture or be positive in affirming that any dread of the Divine Majesty has made due impressions upon such minds which determining their Spirits to their own tongues speak sudden and unpremeditated language to him This must of necessity very often at least be rash and unadvised Not fit to be presented to so great a God as all describe Jehovah to be Because it will very frequently be accompanied with an indecency of phrase unsoundness of expression or at least an immethodical loose composure He that does but send a message to another especially if he is placed some steps above him will be sure to regard the person of him to whom his errant is directed And to mind the main business which he intends How strangely is he concerned if it be a matter of importance to inform his messenger so well in the affair that after he has invented the most apt and proper expressions he can think on that may comport with the quality nay the very humour of the person to whom he sends and has once delivered them to his own servant or another How frequently will he call him back again to re inform him That the weight of his business may not suffer diminution by any light or unbecoming word That the messenger may not spoil his design or the least failure in expression or behaviour obstruct a compliance And shall mankind who are so cautious in secular affairs have very little or no regard to the language in which they utter their wants and petitions unto the great God in whom we live and move and have our beings From whom also we receive the causes of our perpetual subsistence Nay when we are begging from him such things as are of a most great and everlasting concernment to us which if we do not obtain we are ruin'd and damn'd to all eternity In those affairs that we manage with men about which we are so very solicitous the greatest evil that can befall us by any failing or unfortunate miscarriage can consist only in a prejudice to our estate damage to our health a blot to our reputation an abatement of our pleasures and sensual satisfactions Or at most it can but put a period to our lives and cut the threads which in a few daies would grow rotten and break All which things if we did escape for that present season in which we were in danger we are but for a little space repriev'd Because they will suddenly perish of themselves when the fatal hour snatches us from them and Death summons us to the great Tribunal And shall we think it reasonable to be so careful and big with consideration in the managery of these low concerns amongst men that our secular wishes may obtain their ends and yet be so vain and negligent in relation to the welfare of our immortal souls when we petition the great disposer of all things for such favours which are so important to us that if we fail of their possession when we come to die as certainly we must we shall then exchange our abode in this world for such a torment as is unexpressible and yet shall never that we know of admit of an end or relaxation Certainly such men can have little dread of the Divine Majesty who manage their addresses to this Supreme Being with such strange rashness and inconsideration Especially when their petitions include the great concernments of their own and others souls And are offered to that Almighty power which alone is able to grant their desires This plainly argues that neither the value of the one nor the greatness of the other is much esteemed or regarded by them Be not rash with thy mouth saies Solomon and let not thine heart he hasty to utter any thing before God For God is in heaven and thou on earth therefore let thy words be few Eccl. 5.2 And if this Text by a narrow and subtil interpretation should be restrained to vows only Yet the reason of the thing will be as prevalent in prayer when men on Earth speak to the great God in Heaven For the distance will be still the same betwixt us And our contempt and his revenge no farther off We must not therefore be rash in this
the conceptions of their minds to an utterance of our petitions in an unknown tongue And it concludes indeed against the Publick Service of the Papists in Latin and justifies our own in English As I have already shewed But it can neither strengthen the Enthusiast nor detract from the worth or reputation of a well composed Liturgy And that this is the true meaning of this Scripture and the real opposition which is here made of Spirit to understanding and the difference betwixt them appears plainly from the naked words of the nineteenth Verse without any Paraphrase upon them For saies the Apostle I had rather speak five words with mine understanding that by my voice I may teach others also than ten thousand words in an unknown tongue And though St. Chrysostom's interpretation of the whole does not in every part agree with this Yet he expounds Spirit by the gift of tongues But if men will still evidence their vanity by defending their extravagancies by Texts of Scripture which have been won from them as often as they have trump'd them up to the world and urge that in the twelfth of Zechariah Where God promises to pour upon the house of David and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem the Spirit of Grace and of Supplications c. They will gain but little countenance from hence for their irrational and loose way of worship Though as a neat Commentator of their own descants upon it it should be poured out as by whole Pailfuls Trapp in loc For nothing can be concluded from this Text but that the time should come in which God would by his benign operations confer so much favour to the Jews that they who were hardned through their own infidelity to the affronting and Crucifying the blessed Jesus should so relent for their former wickedness that they would pray to God and petition for their pardon when they came to be convinced that the very person whom they put so death under the notion of an Impostor was indeed the promised Messiah And so it no more concludes that the Holy Ghost is promised under the Gospel to dictate matter and expressions to all those who devoutly pray than it proves all Saints under this dispensation to be perfect Jews that crucified their Saviour Nor can all the Hebrew and Greek and Latin in the world make either out from this Text. Nay such Doctrine can no more be founded on this Prophecy of Zechariah than that the Holy Ghost should also dictate matter and words in Preaching too and render all Sanctified mens Sermons as much the word of God as the Scriptures can be infer'd from that Promise in the second of Joel where God saies I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh and your Sons and your Daughters shall prophesie Since this was fulfilled on that eminent day of Pentecost when the Holy Ghost visibly descended on the Apostles to enable them to speak divers languages and to work Miracles c. for the propagation and confirmation of the Gospel and accordingly 't is limited by St. Peter Acts 2.16 If men will still trifle with the Scriptures let them allow also women to be Preachers as well as men Because in the promise it is said that Daughters as well as Sons shall Prophesie 'T will only as 't is usual with some men prefer the Old Testament to the New and set a Prophet and an Apostle together by the ears that we may judge the advantage to which we please as he gratifies either our humour or our interest But suppose our extempore men should flie from Scripture to the succeeding Writers among the Christians as I know not but they may when they find any thing that makes for them and tell us that all this worship which we declaim against is justifiable by the practice of the Primitive Christians who living near the times of our Saviour and his Apostles must needs understand their Doctrine and their practice better than we who live in an Age so far off and quote some passages from the Ancient Fathers to justifie their extravagant devotions now I only reply 1. We grant that in the first times of Miraculous operations before the Christian Church was well setled in the World the Spirit did as well dictate prayer to some for the help of others as it inspired some to deliver the Christian Doctrines and faith that they might be derived downward to posterity But all this ceased afterwards when the reasons of it ceased when the Canon of the new Law was compleated and Knowledge and Parts became the fruits of liberal education and the Spirts co-operation with human industry 2. That the Fathers give no countenance to this extempore wild way of prayer And the later Patrons of this conceived method when they urge any expressions from them are fain to squeeze a few particular passages hard either by a false rehearsal Or else by Criticising and large interpretations they draw their words off from the sence which the subject matter and coherence of the place does willingly afford them 3. That this way of arguing in this affair is disclaimed by a late Nonconformist writer who is eminent both in venting and darkning too these extempore prayers And almost as ancient as any now living in defending them Nay and he has reason too when the contrary opinion as he saies becomes opposite to his own experience But to give him his due he admits Scripture in this Controversie And would have men to believe that all the commands for prayer in the Sacred writings are so many laws to injoin their own extempore way and method Yet though he adventures at some promises I cannot find that he meddles with the commands so as to appropriate any one to extempore prayer Though he is very good at Criticism and Inference But natural Enthusiasm when riveted by custom skulks so within a man that though possess'd with it he does not know it And 't is such another thing as what the vulgar call Arminianism which a man may sometimes be charg'd with when he yet pleads not guilty As I have heard of another great Writer whose Aphorisms when Dr. Hammond had perused presently replied This man is an Arminian but he does not know it 4. If any will defend these conceived publick prayers from Antiquity I wish they would also put other matters in Controversie betwixt them and the Church of England upon the same trial and permit the Government of the Church of Christ to be also determined this way Yet Lastly these things are here set down not because we have any cause of fear from what can fairly be urged for extempore prayer out of any Ancient Author of undoubted Credit the quotations having frequently been answered But more especially because they are just now explain'd in the Second Part of certain Cases of Conscience resolded concerning the lawfulness of joining with forms of Prayer in publick worship The view of which since the composure of this small Discourse
part of those who being otherwise minded have separated from it And it may give some rebuke to the bold confidence of such men as are not so hardned that they think there is no need of repentance or that the shame which attends it will be worse to them than the want of the thing it self and check the rude presumption of those who to exalt themselves assume too large a familiarity with their Maker And now I shall trouble the Reader with very little more being conscious to my self how much I have already tired any that has had patience to read this Discourse quite through Yet because extravagant and very lofty men pretend to inspiration in such matters as these as if the holy Spirit dictated matter and words to all Saints when they thus pray extempore If it be true I acknowledge my self to have blasphemed in this Discourse But if it be false as I verily believe it is then they themselves have blasphemed the Holy Spirit of God And to make a judgement in this case I shall only intreat treat the impartial Reader who I suppose is come thus far with me to our journeys end 1. to consider if what I have said be argumentative to convince him then the blasphemy remains in the presumption of our Adversaries on their own side 2. If their prayers were thus inspired they would be equally Canonical with the Scriptures For what made the Scriptures a Rule of life but because they were given by inspiration from God 2 Tim. 3.16 And Saint Peter informs us that holy men of God spake in old time as they were moved by the Holy Ghost 2 Pet. 1.21 And though men have been at sundry times and in divers manners spoken unto in the Old and New Testament yet it was God who delivered his messages unto men Heb. 1.1 And because he inspired the Writers of the Old Testament and the New to a delivery of what their words and writings have presented to the world therefore we receive them as the Oracles of God and endeavour to manage our lives by them God Almighty has no where declared what Books are Scripture and what not But this we learn by such arguments as convince us that the men that wrote them were inspired by the Holy Ghost Now could these mens prayers of which we now discourse be proved to be dictated by the Holy Ghost they would be equally valid with the Scriptures For as in the proof of the truth of the holy Scriptures if the Historical part be proved to be true the Doctrines that are included in the History will by the same evidence appear true also So if we allow the confessions petititions and thanksgivings of these persons to be inspired the propositions on which they are founded and all the Doctrines insinuated in them will be admitted as an effect of the inspiration also and then what inspired Controversies should we have Nay there would not only be additions to the Sacred Canon which St. John is quoted by themselves to have prohibited And Doctrines also and prayers too that have no foundation in that Sacred Writ which has been derived as a compleat rule for sundry Ages But we must receive such large Appendixes that they would not only surmount all Popish traditions though they should superadd those of the Jews But it might be said in the words of the Evangelist without any or but a little Hyperbole That if they were written the world it self could not contain the Books because the prayers of these are so various and long And beside this it would level the Prophets our Saviours and his Apostles prayers to the rude and indigested and extravagant conceptions which our natural Enthusiasts utter in those which all men call extempore prayers 3. If these men had that extraordinary assistance from the Spirit of God or such an inspiration to which so bold a pretence is made Then the Spirit of God must be rendered inconsistent with it self Since it would frame tedious and long prayers contrary to that plain fulness and convenient brevity which we find in those that are recorded in Sacred Writ as delivered by the Prophets or Apostles or even our Saviour himself And then the examples mentioned in the Book of God will seem to be changed by extraordinary motions from his own Spirit Lastly Consider that notwithstanding all our extempore mens pretensions their prayers cannot be the product of inspiration dictating to the speaker matter and words Because this sudden deceiving Knack is plainly discoverable by those that know and can use it also as well as themselves to be the effect of quickness of invention in one who remembers Scripture Phrases who has a voluble and ready tongue and 't is gained only by frequent use together with little arts in the composure At several times 't is done by changing the places of expressions or altering the method so that it cannot easily be observed by the vulgar And all is but like the exercise of a Military Company of men whole front or reer ranks or files are quickly altered by one or few words of Command And this great gift as 't is called by some advances or grows weak according to the increase or decay of natural abilities the abatement of knowledge or the sprightlyness and activity of mens parts the strength of memory or the infirmity of it the volubility of speech or the hesitations and stops in it and the practice or disuse of this extempore way c. To which we may add boldness and bashfulness fear and a good assurance and the like Hence a Right Reverend Prelate not long since deceased when before he arrived at this honour though he was alwaies a very great man he was pleased to write concerning this gift of prayer was willing to subject it to the rules of Art that so the Holy Spirit of God in all its infusions into good men might be supposed only to spiritualize their judgments and affections that they might be both sanctified and raised which may as well be in forms of devotion as in conceived and extempore prayers And now I have done with all that I intend at present to write on this Subject But if any Reader shall find an objection which is neither in this Discourse obviated in the state nor already answered in particular instances I must then refer him to several Cases of Conscience published by sundry Ministers of London very lately exhibited to the World and more yet that are to come forth and when they receive a full answer I may perhaps be convinced by it Although the most that I have yet seen seem to me to have prickles in them that for their Brethren as they call them to attempt a reply will render them like things gnawing thistles Yet men may adventure at what they please and I 'll assure them it shall be all one to me whether Don Quixot encounters a flock of Sheep or a Wind-mill The Conclusion THE Learned Vossius