of the mind unto God. Now the Souls Appetite after God and the Divine things of his Kingdom is as necessary to it as Hunger and Thirst is unto the Body for as the Bodily Hunger and Thirst 1. Makes the Nourishment which the Body receiveth comfortable and pleasant unto it And 2. It is a sign of Bodily Health in ordinary Cases And 3. It causeth a good Digestion so that the Body is the better and the more Nourished even so it is as to the Souls Appetite and Desire after God and the Refreshings that come from his Heavenly Presence the which in Scripture is called a Hunger and Thirst as Christ said Blessed are they that Hunger and Thirst after Righteousness c. And said David My Soul thirsteth for God Psal. 42. 2. The Soul which thus hungers and thirsts after God and the enjoyment of him when it receiveth this enjoyment in any measure Oh! How sweet and comfortable it is to the hungry Soul but the full Soul even loaths the Hony-comb whereas to the hungry Soul every bitter thing is sweet yea even the Judgments and Chastnings of the Spirit of the Lord which are sent unto the Soul as it hath need of them are sweet and precious unto it 2. The Spiritual Hunger and Thirst of the Soul is alwaies a sign of the Souls Health and prosperous Condition And 3. The Inward and Spiritual Food and Nourishment that the Soul receiveth even that Living Bread and Water of Life which cometh down from Heaven doth the more nourish up the Soul unto Eternal Life and causeth it to grow the more up into the Heavenly Image and Similitude of God and Christ in all Holiness and Righteousness and Spiritual Beauty and Glory and also in Spiritual Might and Strength and likewise in Wisdom and Counsel and Knowledg and Understanding The more that the Souls Desires are enlarged after God so the more the Soul desireth the more it feedeth upon the Bread of Life which Bread is Christ the living Word and the more it feedeth the more it groweth and is nourished up unto his Heavenly and Divine Image and the more it is nourished and groweth the more again it desireth after God. And besides In the true desire of the Soul after God and Christ there is a true attractive Vertue so to speak which draweth or sucketh the Water of Life out of the Wells of Salvation Isa. 12. 3. And both draweth Life from Christ the Fountain of it into the Soul and draweth the Soul after Christ Even as the desire that we have after the Air causeth us to suck or draw it in to the inward parts of the Body and as the Infants desire after the Mothers Milk causeth it to suck and draw at the Breast thus the Souls desire after God and Christ draweth in a sweet and Heavenly Divine Breathing of his blessed Spirit which it again breatheth forth in Holy Breathings of Prayers and Thanksgivings and those Souls whose desires are living and fresh after God as new born Babes as the Scripture saith They desire the sincere Milk of the Word that they may grow thereby And thus it may appear why we should pray rather and mostly if not only and altogether for Spiritual and Heavenly then for Carnal and Earthly Things because the desire of Spiritual and Heavenly Things doth purifie and sanctifie the Soul and raiseth it up after them and maketh the Soul like unto them yea transformeth into the nature and likeness of them for Love and Desire have a wonderful transforming power in them whether Natural or Spiritual And therefore the love of Heavenly and Spritual Things makes the Soul Heavenly and Spiritual the love of God in the Soul makes it Godly and God-like and the love of Christ makes it Christ-like and to resemble him in his manifold Graces and Vertues but the love and desire of Earthly and Worldly Things makes not the Soul Heavenly and Spiritual but rather Earthly and Worldly and therefore they are little or nothing to be desired in comparison of those Heavenly and Spiritual Things Q. How and after what manner is Prayer to be distinguished A. Prayer is either Private or Publick as also it is either Mental or Vocal Mental Prayer is the Cry of the Heart unto or after God as it is said Lam. 2. 18. Their Heart cryed unto the Lord. And as the Prophet Isaiah 26. 9. said With my Soul have I desired thee in the Night yea with my Spirit within me will I seek thee early Again Mental Prayer may be either with words conceived in the Heart but not expressed with the Mouth and Lips as that of the Psalms 4. 4. Commune with your own Heart upon your Bed Or as the old Latine hath it Speak in your Hearts c. and be still And such kind of Mental Prayer was that which Abraham's Servant used Gen. 24. 45. And said he before I had done speaking in my Heart c. As also that of Moses in the Red Sea Exod. 14. 15. And the Lord said unto Moses wherefore eryest thou unto me But we read not that any words of Prayer were expressed by Moses at that time or that to wit Mental Prayer may be without all words so much as conceived in the mind in a deep silence of all words such as that in the Psalms 62. 1. Where according to the Hebrew it is Truly my Soul is silent unto God. For seeing the substance of Prayer consisteth in the Souls desire after God and that desire may be in the Soul without words so much as conceived even as a natural desire after Meat or Drink may be in us without words therefore there is a Praver that may be in the Heart or Spirit of Man without words so much as inwardly conceived the which Prayer is oft times the most effectual and permanent for it may remain continually in the Soul without any intermission as it doth in every good man by which Prayer he doth pray continually or without ceasing as the Scripture requireth for the Souls desire after God may remain a constant and perpetual thing by which it continually prefleth after God as the stone continually inclineth to the center or as the Needle of the Compass that is well touched with the Load-stone and hath drunk in or received the magnetical virtue thereof continually pointeth Northward and if it be at any time diverted by any violent motion it ceaseth not until it hath arrived at its former station And thus it is with the soul that is effectually touched with Gods living Arm and Power that its desire is continually after him and that desire causeth in it a continual motion towards him and to his holy and blessed will to know and perform it Vocal Prayer is that which is made unto God both with the Heart and Mouth in words audibly uttered or expressed And betwixt Mental and Vocal Prayer there is a mixt sort where the words are not audibly expressed to the hearing of others
Prayer they will and ought to take care to supply it another way that every day at least inwardly if not outwardly they have frequent times to be retired into the Closet of their Hearts the Door of their Hearts being shut and there in secret to Pray unto the Lord laying aside all wordly thoughts for that time Nor is it safe to neglect this exercise or lay it aside upon the pretence of the constant and continual sort of Prayer which consists in the Soul's desire after God and may well be without all words so much as inwardly conceived for no doubt the Prophets and Apostles had this constant sort of Prayer that consists in a manner wholly or for the most part in the will and desire and affections of the Soul which keeped their Hearts continually in a godly and spiritual frame but notwithstanding of this they used also frequent Solemn times of that other kind of Prayer which exerciseth not only the will and affections but the understanding also whereby they spoke unto God at least in their Hearts words of Prayer which some call discursive Prayer or the Prayer of Meditation the which is frequently necessary to be performed by every true and good Christian for the strengthening and encreasing the Prayer of the will and desire which ought to be a continual thing and without the said discursive Prayer used at least in the Heart and that frequently the prayer or desire of the will groweth flat and dull yea languisheth and is ready to die and be extinguished unless it be helped and assisted with discursive Prayer and Meditation in the frequent exercise of it For discursive Prayer when duly and rightly performed exciteth and stirreth up the Prayer of desire even as the blowing of the Bellows makes the Fire to burn the better and raiseth it into a bright and burning Flame And the Prayer of desire which is principally lodged in the will and affections is like the continual motion of the heart in the body of a living man which must be preserved and assisted with Eating and Drinking and other outward Labours and Exercises of the Body without which the inward motion of the Heart would soon fail and he extinguished Nor is it sufficient for any to excuse their not using this kind of Prayer by speaking to God in their Hearts upon a pretence of not being called or moved thereunto by the Holy Spirit for whoever do not find themselves frequently called and moved to such a Divine and Heavenly Exercise so exceeding necessary to every true Christian it is too manifest an evidence that they are carnal and earthly also that they have quenched the Spirit and resisted the same and that they are got into a false liberty of their fleshly will out from under the Yoak and Cross of Christ whereas all such who keep under his blessed Yoak and Cross to crucifie self and all the thoughts and desires thereof are kept in a living tender and sensible condition of Soul and Heart and these feel the callings and movings of the Holy Spirit to be frequent in them to Prayer Meditation giving of Thanks and all other necessary Duties and such continually watch unto Prayer and are still waiting for the Spirit 's gentle and soft breathings and the more they wait for them the more they find them and have experience of them Q. How and after what manner doth the Spirit help and assist the Faithful to Pray in words either inwardly conceived and spoke only in the heart unto God or outwardly expressed in the audience of others Doth he give or dictate to them all and every one of the words of their Prayer just so many in number and neither more nor less and doth he make use only of their Understanding and other powers of their Soul in a passive way so as only to receive what is delivered unto them as the Conduit or Water-pipe only sends out the Water that is put into it or as the Wax or Clay only showeth the figure or form of the impression it hath received from the Seal A. It is somewhat hard and difficult to express the manner of the Spirits helping us to pray in words for all the Operations of the Spirit are better and more clearly felt and perceived in the Souls of them who witness them than they can be uttered or expressed in words And it is very hard to express the manner of the natural Operations of a man as how he seeth heareth smelleth tasteth and feeleth or how he speaketh and how the words arise from his mind and heart until they come to his mouth and how the Mouth Tongue and Lips do utter them And if these natural Operations whereof we have daily experience are so hard to be explained as to the manner of them how much more hard and difficult are they which are Spiritual and Supernatural to be clearly explained and expressed in Words unless the Lord give an ability in a good measure However somewhat may be said to those who have a single and honest desire to be informed that may be of service unto them but as for such who are only curious to pry into this Mystery and lye at the â—atch to take advantage they are like to receive no satisfaction And now to the Question I Answer directly and positively thus that the Soul and its powers are not wholly and altogether passive and meerly receptive or recipients in this case as Water-conduits or Wax and Clay in respect of the Seal but partly passive and partly active as the Earth is in the production of its Fruits and Vegetables or as the Womb of the Mother is in bringing forth of her Children for both the Earth and the Woman are active as well as passive in the production of their respective Births and bring them forth from the Seeds which they have received And hence it is that true Prayer as it is a Fruit of the Spirit who has â—own the true seed of it in the Soul and causeth it to grow with its Divine and Heavenâ—y Influences so is it also a Fruit of the Soul which the Soul being quickned and made aâ—ive unto God and made fruitful with the Divine-feed it hath received and the Divine over-shadowings of that Holy Spirit of promise brings forth unto God. And hence it is that dead and fruitlesssouls in Scripture which are empty of good Fruits are compared to dry and barren Trees and also to barren Ground as the good and honest Heart in the Parable is compared to good Ground which brought forth some an Hundred Fold and some Sixty and some Thirty And said Iohn the Baptist to the Pharisees Bring forth Fruits meet for Repentance for now the Ax is laid to the Root of the Tree every Tree therefore that bringeth not forth good Fruit is hewed down and cast into the Fire Now true Prayer is one of these good Works and Fruits which the Souls of the Faithful bring forth unto God the Husband-man
but yet come up from the Heart into the Mouth where they are secretly or silently whispered such as the Prayer of Hannah was 1 Sam. 1. 12 13. And it came to pass as she continued praying before the Lord that Eli marked her Mouth Now Hannah she spake in her Heart only her Lips moved but her Voice was not heard c. Q. May Vocal Prayer in words that are audible to others at some distance be used in private when a man is alone by himself A. Upon some solemn or extraordinary occasions it may be used as if such a wicked Law should be made that no man should pray unto God as in the case of Daniel cap. 7. Where it was decreed that none should ask any thing for thirty daies but of the King Daniel found himself the more concerned to bear a testimony against such a Law or Decree that even his private Prayer came under the observation of his accusers so that he could not satisfie himself with meer inward and mental Prayer which none of them could observe And it seemeth it had been Daniel's custom formerly so to do he living among Idolaters that so he might more abundantly bear a Testimony against their false Worship and for the true Worship of the True and Living God. Again 2. Vocal Prayer in private may be the more freely used when any hath the opportunity of some remote or retired place where none are within the reach of hearing them for sometimes the earnestness and pressure of Spirit in their earnest wrestling with the Lord may provoke and constrain some to use Vocal Prayer and sometimes the using of it helps them that are weak to excite and make them more servent and lively but it is to be used with great wariness and discretion when used in private to take away all occasion of Ostentation or Hypocrisie which is too incident to many who pray or cry out their private Prayers of purpose that others may hear them as the Pharisees did of old whose Hypocrisie Christ sharply reproved and he taught his Disciples the best manner to perform their private Devotions Matth. 6. 6. But thou when thou Prayest enter into thy Closet and when thou hast shut thy Door Pray to thy Father which is in secret and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly Now as this Closet or secret Chamber may partly be understood to be outward when men have the opportunity thereof or any outward place of retirement yet because it oft falleth out to good Christians that they have no Closet or outward Place of Retirement many being oft confined to a Prison where they must alwaies be in Company with others and sometimes with bad People In that case the Lords Servants have the Closet of their Hearts to retire into at all times where they may freely pray unto the Lord in secret and here also they must be careful to shut their Door to wit the Door of their Heart whereby shut out and exclude all idle and wandering Thoughts and Imaginations yea all thoughts even of their Lawful occasions that their hearts and thoughts may be wholly exercised for that space of time towards the Lord as he shall be pleased to assist them Q Is it not requisite and necessary that every true Christian set apart some time every day in a Solemn way for Meditation and Private Prayer as well as that some time is set apart once or twice every Week by a company of Christians for publick Worship where opportunity can be had A. That some part of our time is to be set apart for private Prayer and Meditation and waiting upon God as well as for publick Prayer and Worship or any other Religious performance is most clear from the practise and example of the Servants of God both in the Old and New Testament for not only the Prophets of old under the old Testament used frequent times of retirement to give themselves in a Solemn and peculiar way to waiting upon God Meditation and Prayer as did Abraham Isaac Iacob Moses David Elijah Daniel c. But Christ himself used such Solemn times and so did the Apostles As concerning Christ it is said Matth. 14. 23. And when he had sent the Multitudes away he went up into a Mountain apart to Pray And when the Evening was come he was there alone And a little before his Passion or outward suffering at the place called Gethsemane Matth. 26. 36. he retired from his Disciples and Prayed alone at three several times saying O my Father if it be possible let this Cup pass from me Nevertheless not as I will but as thou wilt Next as for the Apostles we find in the Acts cap. 10. 9. That Peter went up upon the House in some upper Chamber to Pray about the Sixth Hour Which according to the Jewish Account of Hours was the middle of the Day And no doubt Peter made it his frequent practise to retire himself thus unto Prayer And Paul after his Conversion lodging at the House of Iudas was exercised in Prayer when Ananias was sent to him at which time he had a Vision of Ananias his coming as Peter had of the Vessel coming down from Heaven as he was at Prayer in private in the House of Simon the Tanner Thus we see how the Lord did bless and countenance such solemn private exercises of Prayer unto his Servants And no doubt the same was the practise of the other Apostles and servent Christians of those times But as to any limited time for Prayer we find no Precept in the Scripture for Christians or those who live in Gospel Times Under the Law Morning and Evening Sacrifices were to be offered up which no doubt were accompanied with Prayer by the Faithful David said Morning and Evening and Mid-day he would call upon the Lord yea Seven times a Day and Daniel used Thrice in the Day to pray unto the Lord. And surely the Devotion and Fervent Zeal of Christians should be no less in Gospel Times than was theirs under the Law but rather more and more frequently exercised Although Christians are not under any tye or command given in general as to the number of times how oft to be retired out of all worldly occasions to give themselves solemnly to Prayer every day that and many other things being wholly left to the direction and guidance of the Holy Spirit which as it teacheth all true Christians what and how to Pray so no doubt it sheweth also the times when which times are frequent even of the Holy Spirit his moving of the Souls and Hearts of true and tender Christians who are become acquainted with the movings and leadings of the same And if by outward occasions such true and tender Christians may be diverted or hindred by some inevitable lets or hindrances as to the outward as oft falleth out that they cannot have either conveniency of time or place to be so frequently retired in the outward posture of
as a natural Tree bringeth forth its natural Fruit from a principle of activity in its own Nature as it is assisted and helped by the influences of the Heavens and especially the heat and warmth of the Sun and the Heavenly Dews and Rains. And certainly the Prayers of the Prophets and other Holy Men and Women recorded in the Scripture were of this sort God moved and wrought upon their Souls and the powers and faculties thereof from the highest to the lowest and caused them all to concur and made them fruitful to bring forth Holy Prayers and Praises unto God And thus was it also with them in respect of their Preaching and Writing the Holy Scriptures in doing of which they were not bare passive Instruments but partly active and partly passive for most part at least as is demonstrable from the variety of stile and different manner of expression used by the Writers and Pen-men of the Holy Scripture the Holy Spirit acting upon them according to the diversity of their natural as well as spiritual Capacities and gifts whether natural or acquired wherewith they were endued So that as the Fruits of the Earth with their beautiful forms and shapes and diversity of Colours proceed not from the Earth alone nor from the Sun and Heavens alone but from both acting partly together and as the Child which the Mother brings forth in the comely and beautiful linements and proportion of its form is not the Mothers Child alone but the Fathers also So all true Preaching and Praying which proceeds from the Spirit of God and also true and right Meditation and Thanksgiving or any other true spiritual and acceptable Performances is a Birth of two Parents whereof the Faithful Soul is the Mother and God by the working of his Spirit is the Father And therefore it is that all Faithful Souls in Scripture are called the Spouse of the Lord and the Church is called Christ's Wife because as the Wife bringeth forth true and lawful Children to her Husband lawfully begot of him so the Faithful Soul brings forth as it were Spiritual Children unto God and Christ whose Father God is by the working of his Holy Spirit And these Spiritual Children are good Words and Works which the Soul brings forth unto God by the help of his Holy Spirit And therefore all such Preaching and Praying and Thanksgiving which proceed not from the Spirit of God in its inward workings upon the Soul And also all kind of Meditation or any other performance or work that is offered up unto God without the said inward working of the Holy Spirit is but a spurious and bastard-brood and cannot therefore be received and accepted of the Lord who only accepteth what is of his own begetting in the Soul. For what man will accept of a Bastard as if it were his own Child Now in this doth appear both the Wisdom and Love of God that he hath made the Soul an active as well as passive Instrument to joyn and co-operate with him in his work and service and in all what he requires of it And that there are none of the powers or abilities of the Soul or Faculties of it from the lowest to the highest but they may be actively imployed in some part of his service as the Imagination the Memory the Reason and Understanding of Man and its institutive Faculty which being opened and made alive in man through the Work of Regeneration can see and behold God as he doth reveal and discover himself to his Children many times without all words so much as inwardly conceived or remembred though all times it pleaseth God to make use of Words and through them as through the Lattess to show himself unto the Soul as also God maketh use of the Will Love and Affections of his People in the day of his power making them a willing People giving them not only to think and understand what his good and acceptable and holy will is but also to will and to do it For thus the Faculties and Abilities of the Soul which God hath given it are most nobly and excellently exercised when they are exercised in his service immediately and attain to their noblest and best end and herein is the Wisdom and Love of God also manifest that the Soul being thus made active with all its powers abilities and faculties in the works and service of God as co-works with him the Soul it self is the more delighted and hath the more joy and pleasure in those works when it reflecteth on them and considereth them as having a share in them as the Mother hath in the Children whom she hath conceived and brought forth for as it is natural to all Mothers to love their own Children whom they have conceived and born and suffered for so is it also natural to the Soul to love its works which it hath wrought in God and take delight or pleasure in them as God doth in his and as the Mother loveth her own Children whom she hath conceived and born and travelled in great pangs to bring forth into the World more than she loveth any other Children whom she hath not born although these other may be more beautified so the Soul loveth and delighteth most in those works which it bringeth forth as the fruit of its Womb through the assistance of God's Holy Spirit and it is well allowed of the Lord so to do provided it be with due moderation for this is a part of our own reward even to rejoyce in good works which the Lord hath enabled us to perform but the praise is wholly and alone to be given unto the Lord for them all for he it is who hath given to the Soul its being and powers and every ability both Natural and Spiritual so as without him it could not do any thing that is good neither Spiritual nor Natural They are therefore greatly mistaken who think as some foolishly and idly have done and Printed it against us that because we plead for the Spirits Immediate Revelation and Teaching and Immediate assistance to help us in attaining the true knowledg of God in right and true Meditations Preachings Prayers Thanksgivings c. That therefore we lay aside not only the use of the Scripture and other outward means and helps but also the whole use of our Reason and Understanding as men and of any other faculties and abilities of our Souls and become as so many dead and unactive Truncks Stocks or Stones or as if we did judg that the Divine Revelations Inspirations and Motions of God's Holy Spirit helping us to know and understand Divine things to Meditate to Preach and Pray and give Thanks c. did pass through us as a Sound passeth through a hollow Cave or as Water through a bare Conduit These and such like absurd consequences are but the idle and foolish dreams of mens vain imaginations who as it too much appeareth have never had any experience of or acquaintance with the
Child and hath twins in her Womb that is hard for to make her miscarry in the one but she will miscarry also in the other and he that seeks to kill one of the Twins in the Mothers Belly shall be in hazard to kill the other also But why should the one be killed or choaked more than the other Or why should the Divine Begettings of Gods Holy Spirit in the Understanding of the Soul as also in its Reason and Imagination be strangled more than these in the Will and Affections feeing they have both one Father which is God as they have one Mother which is the Soul. And also seeing what is begot by the Spirit of the Lord in the Will and Desires or Affections of the Soul hath a great dependency what is begot by the same Spirit in the Understanding and Reason For the Children and Servants of God they love him as reasonable Creatures and on reasonable accounts and for reasonable causes yea they have the best and greatest reasons for to love him and those reasons are presented to the Soul by the Holy Spirit in the Understanding and reasonable Faculty And it is generally acknowledged that the Will and Affections do commonly follow the dictates and suggestions of the Understanding and according as the Thoughts of the Understanding whether good or bad do most prevail in the Soul the Will and Affections with the Desires thereof do imbrace what is presented whether it be a true and real good or only seeming and apparent So that the Wills and Affections of all Men are swayed by the strongest Dictates which raise and spring up from their Understanding and intellectual Faculties whether true or false And thus either Wisdom or Folly ruleth the Wills of all Men with their Desires and Affections and consequently all their Actions All good Men are led by wise and good Counsels which the Holy Spirit begets in them and all bad and evil men are led by foolish and evil Counsels And hence it is that every good man is a wise man and every wise man who is truly so is a good man and every bad or evil man is a fool and is called so in Scripture and all sin and wickedness is folly and the real effect and fruit of it Seeing therefore all good inclinations motions and Affections in the will of Man Rise from good and wise Counsels in the Understanding and Reason of Man we must needs say that the Holy Spirit doth operate in both Understanding and Will and begets those good and wise Meditations and Conceptions of Truth in order of Nature before the good Inclinations and Affections which afterwards he begetteth and causeth to arise in the Will. But these good and wise Meditations and Counsels cannot be without words at least inwardly spoke or conceived in the Reason or rational Understanding of Man. And therefore the Spirit of God doth no less help and assist the Understanding or Reason of Man to conceive good Words then it doth help the Will to conceive good Desires and Affections It is therefore a great mistake and error of judgment in those who think that the Spirit of God doth only excite or beget in his Children good Desires and Affections but doth not suggest unto them or help them to conceive good words of Meditation and that as well to pray and give thanks as to preach And seeing Preachers are not stinted to set Forms of words in Preaching why should they be any more stinted to set forms in Praying I cannot understand for the Spirit of God is as near and ready to assist in the one as in the other And if it be said that men Preach not ex tempore but by study and long premeditation and therefore they are in less danger to utter or express unsound and impertinent words in their deliberate and long premeditated Sermons than in their extemporary Prayers To this I Answer 1. It is found by frequent experience that even in those long studied and premeditated Sermons many men have uttered very impertinent and unsound yea false and hurtful words and expressions for it is not much or long time to study or premeditate a Discourse that maketh it good or soundp seeing they who err in their understandings and have received or drunk in wrong and false Doctrines and Principles of Religion and wrong and false Traditional Glosses and Interpretations of Scripture may Preach very unsound and erronious Sermons altho they have taken a long time to study and prepare them 2. According to the former Reply If men shall study before-hand their Prayers as well as their Sermons then they are in no greater danger to speak impertinent and unsound words in Prayer than in Preaching but rather they are less obnoxious to such a danger because in Prayer men commonly do not meddle with matters of controversie or disputable points of Doctrine as indeed it is not proper 3. He who preacheth or prayeth by the true and real assistance of the Holy Spirit as he keepeth faithfully and carefully unto the same altho what he doth either Preach or Pray proceedeth from premeditation It being impossible that the mouth can utter any thing but the heart or mind of man must first conceive it which is a true and real kind of premeditation yet he need eth not any long time for the said premeditation For when his heart and Soul is once well prepared and fitted to be the instrument of the Spirit whether in Preaching or Pray ing c. The which preparation of the Heart at times may require a considerable season longer or shorter as the man is more or less grown up in Vertue and Holiness i◠the least space of time imaginable as in moment or instant when it pleaseth the Lord to assist the understanding by the Divine influences of his Spirit it can be and 〈◊〉 is made fruitful to bring forth and conceive as many solid and living Meditations 〈◊〉 Truth as may sufficiently yield matter 〈◊〉 discourse in true and sound and living words for divers hours But if the Spirit should not suggest so much matter of discourse in so short a space as a moment or instant but only as much as to furnish the Speaker with two or three Sentences or perhaps but one Sentence at first before that one Sentence be well spoke further matter may and doth oft arise from openings of life in the understanding of the Speaker to speak more and so continually still new matter may be and oft is afforded to continue his speech longer or shorter as it pleaseth the Lord to require or as in the wisdom of God a service is seen or felt And indeed various and manifold as well as wonderful are the waies of the Lord towards his Servants whose mouthes he doth open either in Preaching or Praying in the Assemblies of his People For sometimes as one waiteth upon the Lord in pure silence and in holy fear and reverence his heart at the present time being
that good effect to open the understanding and work holy Affections in the Souls of People it is sufficient to edification For where a thing is well understood a man needs not concern his memory much about it As he who understandeth the reasons and grounds of rules and precepts of Art he can practise the things belonging to that Art better with his understanding without thinking on those rules then he who only hath the rules of Art in his memory but understandeth not the reasons and grounds of those rules Nor can these forms be so edifying as extemporary Prayer by the true Spirit of God because they cannot so universally in all particulars reach to the various states and conditions of Peoples Souls And to say that all the various states of Peoples Souls if there were a thousand of them are comprehended under the words of those general set forms doth not satisfie For as on the one account set forms are too few and strait or narrow to reach all particular states and seasonable times so if generals can serve these set forms commonly used are too many because one only set form of Prayer contained in a few words may in general reach to all Peoples states and surely none doth or can better do that than the Prayer which Christ taught his Disciples And if men deny that they have any assistance of the Spirit to help them to conceive these set forms of Prayer which they use were it not better to collect together forms of Prayer out of the Old and New Testament putting all these words and sentences together which are most to the same purpose or if belonging to several purposes that have some fit connexion together and so the words of their Prayer would be pure Scripture words without any mixture of the words of man's Wisdom which are oft times very unsound 8. They Object That many who Pray extempore contradict one another in thrir Prayers ask contrary things and therefore both such Prayers cannot be from the Spirit of God which as it is one in Nature so in Operations ever agreeing and in unity with it self Ans. The whole weight and stress of this Objection lyeth upon Persons and Men and not upon the Principle to refute or refeâ— it in the least and as for these who most commonly pray contrary one to another they are such who do not pretend or lay claim to pray by Divine Immediate Inspiration But if both sides should lay claim thereunto and yet contradict one another in their Preaching or Praying it only proveth that the men are faulty sometimes on the one side and sometimes on the other and sometimes they may be faulty and wrong on both sides but the Principle remaineth still unblamable nor hath this Objection more weight now than in the daies of the true Prophets of old against whom the false Prophets both Preached and Prayed and pretended to be also Divinely and Immediately Inspired as well as the true And lastly This Objection can be well enough retorted for they who pray by Set Forms may pray contrary one to the other The Greek and Latine Churches had both Set Forms of Prayer and prayed one against another as well as preached when that great Zeal and Schism came to be between them And how many Preach against one another who pretend to Scripture and good Reason and also to good Literature which yet is no just reflection on any of these three things but only on the Men or Persons who abuse them 9. It is objected That Paul in his Epistles used the same Forms of Salutations and Prayers both at the beginning and end of them frequently and therefore he could not be against Set Forms who used them so much himself as Grace Mercy and Peace from God our Father and the Lord Iesus Christ at the beginning of divers of them and at the end Grace be with you c. Answ. These little short Forms being as is already said upon another occasion expressions and significations of the Prayer of Aspiration and Affection and not of that called Discursive Prayer which require divers Sentences do not infer that Set Forms may be used in Discursive Prayer For when the Heart and Affection is earnestly and zealously bent and moved to desire one only thing it may be expressed in one Sentence and as oft as that Affection is renewed the expression of it in the same Sentence as it freely ariseth in the Heart may be renewed also but men find it not so in Discursive Prayer or other Discursive Exercises As when men at this day commonly write Epistles one to another they retain some little common Forms of Salutation at the beginning and end of their Epistles which are commodious and not thought strange not disliked But if a Man yea if a School-boy at School should alwaies write to his Father or Kindred the same words throughout without any alteration they would say he were a fool and void of understanding to be so barren as to have no new matter in his Epistles even when daily occasion is given 10. It is Objected That God is not delighted with variety of words and novelty of matter and method in new stiles and flourishes of Tropes and Figures and is far unlike those squeemish Stomacks or delicious and lustful Appetites who every day seeketh after variety of Dishes or else they cannot be satisfied at being the Heart that he requireth Answ. It is true God is not delighted with variety of Words and Sentences as Man is or after the manner of Men but yet he requireth that every man make use of the Graces and Gifts which he hath given him and they being the works of God and proceeding from him he may be said to delight in them and in their manifold Variety as he doth in all his other Works altho not after the manner of men yet after such a way and manner as becometh his infinite Greatness and Perfection And tho it be the Heart that God mainly requireth and regardeth yet he commandeth us to love and serve him with our whole man which is our reasonable service and we are to love him with all our Understanding as well as Heart as the Scripture saith and the best and most fruitful part of our Understanding and all the Gifts belonging to it our Judgment Reason and Elocution may and ought to be employed in his Service and in this particular Service of Praver as Holy Men of old who used their Understanding and Reason and such Elocution also and variety of Expressions as God had given them and so ought every Man to do as the Spirit of the Lord leads him and works upon him and those Gifts he has given him without affection or stretching and straining beyond his measure And tho we find no affected or artificial Eloquence in Words of Man's Wisdom which is carnal and from below yet a true Eloquence and excellency of Speech is to be found in many places of Scripture both
praise the Name of the Lord for all his great and rich Mercies and Blessings And if the Spirit of the Lord did not enlighten the Understanding and Mind of Man to teach him what to seek and pray for but only did warm and heat Mens affections all this would be but a blind Devotion which all true Protestants cry out against c. That Heavenly and Sacred Fire that God sends down into the Hearts of his People is not a dark obscure Fire but shining and enlightening and hath Light as well as Heat in it The Spirit of Prayer and Supplication is not only a Spirit of Love but a Spirit of Wisdom and Understanding And though there is a kind of Prayer that may be and oft is without Words either expressed or conceived in the Understanding because there is a degree of Understanding in Man that transcendeth all Words I mean such Words as we commonly use which are the signs of things signified by them as Aristotle defineth Words Verba sunt signarerum i. e. Words are the signs of things In which high degree of Understanding the Spirit and Mind of Man reacheth to the Divine and Heavenly things themselves without these words where the things are words themselves or where the words and things are not distinct But the thing is its own word and the word that signifieth it as the thing it self But Aristotle so much admired for his worldly Wisdom and Philosophy as it seemeth knew not this Mystery nor yet do his followers Notwithstanding of which because the Lord who is Infinitely Bountiful and Gracious unto men doth not only inlighten and shine upon this highest part of Man's Understanding but also causeth his Light and Spirit of Wisdom and Understanding to descend to the lowest degree thereof even to his Reason and Imagination for the very Imagination of man is said in Scripture to be wrought upon by the Spirit of God see Isa. 26. 3. That which is Translated in and according to the Hebrew signifieth Imagination See also 1 Chron. 29. 18. Keep this for ever in the Imagination of the Thoughts c. Which inferiour and lower Powers of man's Soul cannot reach to Divine things without the signes of Words Therefore it pleaseth God to work upon the Understandings of Men so as to make them fruitful to bring forth good and pertinent Words of Truth as well as upon their minds and affections to bring forth the fruits of Holy and Spiritual desires Wherefore the Apostle Prayed to the Lord that God would establish the true Believers in him in every good word and work 2 Thes. 2. 17. Whence I conclude that good words are as real a Fruit of the Spirit as good works or desires and these good words must not be borrowed words from the mouths or lines of others made ready to our Hands but must spring from the inward fruitfulness of our own Understandings as the spirit of the Lord doth water them and make them fruitful after a Heavenly sort For it is not the Corn that lyeth upon the ground though ever so abundantly which hath grown in another Land or Country that denominates the Ground where it lyeth to be fruitful but that is only a fruitful Ground which bringeth forth from within it self as it is assisted by the Heavenly Rains and Influences the like Corn or any other Grain that is good and profitable And therefore it is not the abundance even of Scripture Words which a man receives into his memory or bare natural Understanding that simply makes his Mind and Understanding fruitful unto God but the inward sense and mystery of Scripture words must be opened in him by the Spirit of the Lord and then the Understanding of a man by the help of the Scripture words being inwardly and spiritually opened by the Holy Spirit brings forth as it were as so many Seeds a plentiful Harvest where the good Ground of the good and honest Heart yieldeth its fruit some Thirty some Sixty and some an Hundred Fold and alwaies with some increase So that although Scripture words have a most excellent service and use to the Children of God and their minds and understandings are made fruitful with the Spiritual knowledg and opening of them by the Spirit of the Lord As the ground or soil is with seed sown in it yet the understanding is not confined to the strict and precise number of scripture words but yieldeth an increase of other words from the same spirit and of the same tendency and signification As the seed that is sown yeildeth more Grains than what was sown These and such like openings in great plenty to the praise of God have livingly sprung up in me as concerning Prayer time after time and have at the present writing been livingly brought to my remembrance with an addition of many more which here I present to all Friendly and Loving Readers to whose hands this may come for a general service where I have handled and treated of things I hope soberly and fairly in the spirit of Love and Meekness not naming any Persons or Parties by way of reflection to provoke them to anger or dislike only with some Fervency But yet in true Love I have reproved and argued against those who pretend to Pray by the Spirit without a set Form and yet deny the spirits Immediate Teachings and assistance And tho I aim against Reading set Forms of Prayer so as to make that Reading to be Prayer it self yet I am not simply against Reading of Prayers which have in any measure proceeded from the spirit of God in the Ages past SOME QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS CONCERNING PRAYER And some Reasons that all Prayer in words whether conceived in the Heart or uttered and expressed by Mouth should be by the help of the Spirit helping us to conceive those words With an Answer to some Objections or seeming Reasons brought for using set Forms of Prayer read out of a Book Also concerning Singing or Praising God with a Psalm Quest. WHat is Prayer A. It is a calling upon the Name of God through Jesus Christ and the asking of him in Faith the things which we should or do desire Q. What are these things which we should desire and ask of God by Prayer A. They are many but may be reduced to these Three Heads 1. The things which are for God's Glory and the Sanctifying his great Name in the Earth 2. The things which we stand in need of or want as to our selves 3. We are also to Pray for others even for all men that they may be saved whose Day of Salvation is not expired yea for our greatest Enemies Also we are to Pray for the Church of God in general that God may build her up more and more preserve and defend her multiply his Graces and pour out his Spirit more abundantly upon her and upon her Members in their respective places and especially for those who have a publick Ministry in the Church that he may
more and more qualifie them for so great a work and open an Effectual Door unto them and that it may please the Lord to increase the number of Faithful Labourers to work and labour in his Vine-yard And lastly we are to pray for Kings and all in Authority that God may incline their Hearts to do good and just things in the Earth that we may live a quiet and a peaceable life in all Godliness and Honesty which is the true end of Government and Magistracy its being Appointed and Ordained of God. Q. What are the things which we are to Pray for as to our selves Are they only Spiritual things and such as belong to the Soul or are they Temporal things also such as Riches or encrease of Corn Wine and Oyl or Health If one be in Sickness and Liberty if one be in in Prison And if it be not lawful to pray for Riches or great plenty of Worldly and Temporal Things May we not at lest pray for our necessary Provision as Food and Raiment as Christ taught his Disciples saying Give us this day our daily Bread. A. As for Riches or great Plenty of Worldly and Temporal Things we find no Precept nor Example to commend it as a lawful Thing unto us to Pray for in all the Scripture nor indeed are they to be sought for altho when it pleaseth God to bestow them in blessing Mens sober and lawful Callings and Employments they are to be received with Thanksgiving and God is to be Praved unto that he may give those who have them a Heart to use them to his Glory and that they may be as Faithful Stewards of them especially to Minister unto others who are in necessity for many Tentations and Snares do follow Worldly Riches next as to Temporal or Wordly Necessities as Food and Raiment or Health in time of Sickness and Liberty in case of Bondage or Imprisonment and other such like things I do not say it is unlawful to pray for them providing it be with a due submission to the Will of God who knows best what is good for us So that sometimes Sickness and sometimes Imprisonment is best for us and other Worldly afflictions Tryals and Exercises of our Faith and we stand in need of them and they are sent to us from God for some good end and purpose and therefore we should mainly desire that all these things may be Sanctified unto us and the end and purpose of God in doing us good may be fully answered in all of them But I do not find it commanded any where in Scripture or laid upon us as a necessary duty to pray for any Temporal or Worldly Thing whatsoever for Christ did not teach or command his Disciples to seek or be careful what they should Eat or Drink or wherewith to be Cloathed but said he Seek first the Kingdom of God and the Righteousness thereof and all these things shall be added unto you So here is a promise that God will give us these things although we do not ask for them And he said further The Gentiles seek after these things importing that even to pray unto God for Temporal Necessities was but a part of the Gentiles Religion which was but low and weak in respect of the Christian Religion which leads further to ask Spiritual and Heavenly Things and little or nothing to mind Worldly or Temporal And Christ said unto them further For your Heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things Matth. 6. 31 32 33. Hereby signifying that if we did not seek them they would be given us because we have a provident and tender Father that regardeth us and all our Necessities even as the Fathers of our Flesh provided for us and gave us things we wanted when we neither did nor could ask them as in the time of our Infancy and as to these words which Christ taught his Disciples to pray saying Give us this day our daily Bread. That cannot be proved that that Bread was the Natural Bread that the Natural and Outward Body wanteth And Ierome one of the Fathers so called who lived above twelve hundred years ago did read or translate the words Give us this Day our Super substantial Bread the which Translation many called Learned Men say the Greek will bear But passing the Translation it is very unlikely and improbable that it can be meant of Natural Bread which is but a Temporal and Corruptible thing for it is the first Petition in that Prayer in relation to our selves the three former Petitions relating especially unto God and it is placed in order before that Petition wherein he taught them to Pray for Forgiveness of Sins and the next following That we be not led into Tentation but that God would deliver us from Evil or the evil one to wit the Devil Now the matter of the two last Petitions being Spiritual things how unprobable is it that Christ would teach them to seek first a Temporal thing such as the Outward and Natural Bread is before those Spiritual things when at the same time he bids them Seek first the Kingdom of God and the Righteousness thereof which comprehends all Spiritual things Q. But doth not our Heavenly Father know all the Spiritual things which we have need of as well as the Temporal and therefore why should we pray for the one more than the other A. We do not pray for Spiritual things as if we were to inform the Lord that we want them or as if he did not know that we wanted those things before we pray unto him for he knoweth most perfectly all our wants even the most Inward and Spiritual before we pray unto him from whose all-seeing Eye nothing can be hid whether past present or to come But the great cause why the Lord will have us to pray unto him for Spiritual things is that thereby our desires are enlarged the more after them our love is excited unto them and all the Graces and Vertues and gracious Gifts of Gods Holy Spirit in us are thereby quickened and â—et on work in true Prayer all which tend to our Sanctification and promoting us in the same And seeing the substance of Prayer consists in the Souls desire after God so as to be joined and united unto him and be refreshed with his Love and Divine Influences of his Life and to partake more abundantly of his Spirit and to taste and feed upon his living Word which is the same to the Soul that Bread and Meat and Drink oâ— any most comfortable thing is unto the Body and that the Souls desire after those Heavenly and Divine Enjoyments is enlarged in and by true Prayer this as it were both gives and encreases the Souls appetite after God and prepares the Soul for the enjoyment of him by raising it on high above all worldly things and the desires thereof and accordingly Damascen and Augustine did well describe Prayer to be the ascent or lifting up
operations of the Holy Spirit in their own Hearts Know then that we do believe know and witness it to be Truth that when God's Holy Spirit inspireth us immediately and moveth us to Preach or Pray or give Thanks as it did Holy Men of God of old and Holy Women also even Daughters as well as Sons and Maid-servants as well as Men-servants and so doth at this day the said Holy Spirit worketh upon our Understandings and Reasons as we are Men and reasonable Creatures and upon all the powers and abilities of our Souls according to their several capacities and the Graces and Spiritual Gifts we have received from God and all that is in us of parts whether natural or acquired or supernatural and maketh them serviceable to us and active in the work and service of God more or less as he pleaseth And thus when we pray or give thanks in Words as we receive these words from the Lord when the Prayer and Thanksgiving is purely and rightly performed so they also spring up in us from the fruitfulness of understanding and those parts and graces which God hath given us and our Hearts and Souls and Spirits are the Mothers that bring them forth and the good matter and purposes whereof they declare together with the good life vertue and force or energy that is in them or doth accompany them Hence true and right Prayer in Scripture is called A pouring out of the Soul and Heart so that somewhat of the very inward strength vertue and power of the Soul and Heart of man yea of his Spirit or what is most noble and excellent in him goeth forth in words whether of Preaching or Praying or giving of Thanks as he is truly and fervently exercised in the same by the moving and enabling of the Holy Ghost according to which David Psal. 103. 1. stirred up not only his Soul to praise the Lord but all that was within him note to bless his Holy Name Which tender and sensible hearers whose Souls and Hearts God hath quickned and made alive are well sensible of and can and do well distinguish betwixt a dead and a living or a barren and fruitful Ministry whether in Preaching or Prayer Habet enim nescio quid latentis energiae viva vox transmissâ— per aures in animos audientium fortius sonat Which is in English thus The living Voice saith he hath I know not what something of a secret energy or power and being transmitted through the Ears of the Hearers into their Hearts and Minds doth sound the more effectually And if this be true of a natural Speech when it comes from a mans heart and is spoke but with a natural Fervency that it reacheth forcibly the natural Faculties of the Hearers which borrowed speeches or those which come not from the heart but from the bare understanding and memory cannot do How much more is it apparent in words and speeches that are Spiritual which come both from the Heart livingly touched and affected with the sense of the things whereof the words declare and also from the Spirit of the Lord Hence it is said that Christ spoke as one having authority and not as the Scribes and the Apostles Preaching was with power and the Holy Ghost and so no doubt was their Praying Q. Is it any part of Gospel Worship or Prayer to read set forms of Prayer out of a Book whether in private or publick or whether all Vocal Prayer used either in private or publick in Families or large Congregations should not be as the Spirit of God helps the Speakers to conceive and gives them an utterance to bring forth Words of Prayer or Thanks giving we cannot believe nor are we convinced in Conscience A. To read set forms of Prayer out of a Book whether in private or publick and call that reading Prayer is any part of Gospel Worship or true and real Prayer but rather one of the many Inventions and Traditions of Men since the Apostacy and falling away from the true Faith did enter among those called Christians who retained the Name but losed the power and Spirit of the true ancient and primitive Christians For surely if it had been any part of Gospel Worship Christ or the Apostles would have mentioned it and the Scripture would have born record of it as they do of all the parts of Gospel Worship and true Christian Religion And if it had been the Will of God that such a way of Worship should have been used in the true Church as a common Liturgy or set Form of Prayers it would have been used in the Apostles days for none were so fit to have given forth such forms of Prayers after Christ his Ascension and giving of the Holy Ghost as the Apostles were who were so abundantly replenished with the Holy Spirit But neither the Apostles nor their immediate Successors either made or used any such set Forms of read Prayers Nothing of this kind was known in the Church either in Iustin Martyr or Tertullian his time who lived above Two Hundred Years after Christ for Tertullian telleth plainly the manner how Christians Prayed in his time Ex pertore sue Monitore per Spiritum Sanctum i. e. From the Heart without a Monitor or any thing outwardly to teach them and by the Holy Spirit But Secondly They who plead for using read set Prayers in the Church do acknowledg they were not in use nor practised in the Apostles days nor in the days of their immediate Successors for they grant that in those early and primitive times they who prayed in the Church as the mouth of the whole Congregation were assisted and guided by the Holy Spirit and that their Words both of Prayer and singing Psalms were by immediate Inspiration So that it is as clear as the Noon-day that when these Divine Gifts of Praying and Singing by the Spirit were lost and the Holy Spirit himself the Author and Fountain of those Gifts was in great measure departed from the invention of reading ser Forms of Prayer took place The first Instance that I find of Peoples being put to use a composed or set Form of Prayer made by another was that Form of Prayer which Constantine the great composed and gave to his Soldiers to say but yet they were not to read it but get it by Heart and we must consider that Constantine himself at this time was but a young Christian and the purity of Spiritual Worship began to decline apace even in his daies and most of his Souldiers were Heathens and no Christians so that what they did was no president to us But neither in Constantine's time nor a considerable space thereafter do I find that any made or composed Prayers before-hand were used in the Church It seemeth the Third Council of Carthage about the year after the Birth of Christ 397. did first ordain Set Forms of Prayer in the Church to prevent or hinder mens uttering any thing either ignorantly or rashly
working of the Holy Spirit which may have its visible Effects even the shedding of Tears in him that Preacheth or Prayeth and that more or less abundantly yet the hypocritical show and affection of such a thing without the reality thereof is loathsome and abominable and as great a Transgression against the Law of Heaven as false and counterfeit Money or Coin is against any Earthly Law And yet such hypocritical Tears and Flashes of fained Devotion kindled up by Sparks of their own raising abounding among too many of that Tribe and Generation as if they were the effects of Gods Holy Spirit when alass it is far the contrary But to such as have any measure of Sobriety and Ingenuity among them I propose this Question to be answered in plainness and simplicity by them 1. How can they pretend to pray by the Spirit in words and yet they deny all immediate Inspiration and Revelation which alone guided and assisted those who prayed by the Spirit in words recorded in the Holy Scriptures 2. By what Rule or Touchstone do they know when they are assisted and helped by the Spirtt to pray in words and when not seeing they deny the Holy Spirit as he doth inwardly reveal himself in Mens Hearts to be the rule in any case 3. When they are not moved by the Holy Spirit and that they do not find themselves so moved as to pray in words whether in that case seeing they will needs pray as well when they want the Spirits help as when they have it and that they plead Natural Men who have not the Spirit of God may be true Ministers of Christ and may and ought lawfully to Preach and Pray if they have an outward Call from them they should not rather use the set Forms of Prayer than their own bare invention and wandring imagination for here their great Argument against set Forms of Prayer hath no place to wit the limiting or stinting the Spirit of God because he who prayeth in words without the Spirit whether by a Book or ex tempore without a Book is in one and the same case if none of them pray by the Spirit for he who hath not the Spirit cannot properly be said to limit or stint it But to this I know they will reply that natural and unconverted men though they have not the Grace of the Holy Spirit to sanctifie and saye them yet they have a Gift of Preaching and Praying by the Spirit that may be useful and edifying to the Church they have Gratia gratis data as they call it but not Gratia gratum faciens i. e. Grace freely given them but not Grace rendring them acceptable unto God and for this they give the instance or Example of Balaam To this I answer this distinction used so much of Gratia gratis data and Gratia gratium faciens hath not any warrant from Scripture but is borrowed in express words from popish School-men and Jesuits whom at other times they call Locusts Come out of the bottomless Pit. And as for Balaam it was somewhat an extraordinary case whereby God shewed his mighty Power that he had over his Spirit to cause him to Prophecy good things concerning Israel contrary to his own inclinations and to bless instead of cursing them but an extraordinary Example is not to be made a Rule or President unto us And indeed they have but a sad pattern of him whom rather they follow and imitate for most part in loving and taking the wages of Unrighteousness then in Prophecying or speaking by the Spirit of God as he did at these few extraordinary times And though he prophesied some words by the Spirit yet we do not read that ever God made him the Mouth of the Congregation to pray by the Spirit which is the present case And besides though he Prophesied twice or thrice by the Spirit of God which was extorted from him contrary to his own evil mind and inclination yet he was no true Prophet of God but beareth the infamous mark of a false Prophet to this day and we do not read that ever any one Soul was converted to God by his Prophecying or Ministry God can command the Devils if he please to confess to Christ as some of them did of old which yet is no president for wicked men in whom the Devil rules to Preach and Pray in the Church Now whereas they say Men may have a Gift of Prayer to use it in the Church from the Spirit of God and yet be not sanctified by the Spirit I ask them Is it such a Gift as can secure them from speaking impertinent and unsound words contrary to the truth if yea then they have an infallible Gift which seeing they will not grant unto themselves no more will they unto these others And if it cannot secure them from unsound and impertinent words but leaves them at liberty as much to use unfound words as sound and that the corruption of their Hearts who are but meer Natural Men will soon cast the Ballance and byass them rather to use the unsound words than the sound Is it not more safe in that case at least the less inconveniency of the two rather to be tied and limited to use 2 form of sound words then that their corrupt and unrenewed Hearts However so much they imagine it is to be helped with an unsanctified Gift of an abused Eloquence should be left at liberty to speak unto God and utter before him whatever it pleaseth But if we shall search to the bottom what this Spiritual common Gift of the Spirit is we shall find it to be no other but some meer Natural Gift of Memory Elocution and a ready or quick Fancy and Imagination which many Heathenish Idolatrous Priests have had as much as any of them improved with some acquired Arts of Grammar Logick and Rhetorick and words of Scripture abused and misapplied by them and that which crowns all some more than ordinary degree of confidence that when they are thus furnished and can or do Preach and Pray by those meer natural and artificial helps at best to call them and baptize them into the name of a Spiritual Gift or the Spirits help and assistance But leaving these men and their ex tempore praying without the Spirit which thus far I found my very Soul and Spirit concerned to discover in true love and compassion to their abused and betrayed Hearers and Followers and to them also if they can receive it I shall return to plead a little further for the true and right manner of praying in words by the Spirit as he is pleased to give assistance both in the conceiving and utterance without any set Form either read out of a Book or repeated from the Memory without a Book Because 3. This way of Praying doth alone and only answer to the liberty of the Spirit which is free even the Holy Spirit of Truth and neither will nor can be limitted and who seek to limit
him he departs from them in so far and remaineth still in his own freedom altho such who seek to limit the Spirit by using Set Forms may and do quench the Spirit as unto themselves But they think there is no limitting or quenching or grieving of the Spirit in the case because they believe there is no such gift in the Church remaining since the primitive times as to be helped by the Spirit to Pray in words either in the conceiving or uttering them They grant indeed so far the help and assistance of the Spirit and acknowledg it altogether necessary to Pray acceptably unto God that the Holy Spirit stir up our desires and affections and excite in us his own Graces and the doing of this as they say is a sufficient helping of us by the Spirit as well when a set Form of Prayer is used as otherwise But why do they believe there is no such gift remaining in the true Church seeing they generally confess it was in the Church both in the Apostles daies and some considerable time since They say it ceased with the ceasing of the gift of Tongues and Miracles but what ground have they for this That is a bad Argument that because some of these Gifts which were extraordinary and less necessary did cease or discontinue that therefore this allo did cease with those other And seeing they do not profess to have the Spirit or Gift of Discerning whereby to know whether this Gift be in the Church or no. How do they know but some have it And as they say the Spirit is ceased in respect to help us to pray in words so others do as confidently say to wit the Socinians and Pelagians that it is ceased in all other respects and there is no need of it either to help us to conceive words of Prayer or excite our Affections but that man by his free will helped by the Scriptures without any immediate help of the Spirit can pray sufficiently both with good Words and fervent Affections And yet even these will say they are helped by the Grace of the Spirit to wit mediately and remotely by means of the Spirit Again Why do they limit and stint the help and operation of the Spirit only to the Will and Affections and to exciting the Graces of the Spirit in us Doth not the Spirit operate upon the Understanding as well and as nearly and immediately and closely as upon the Will and Affections Are there not intellectual Graces and Gifts of the Spirit to wit such as properly belong to and are seated in the Understanding as well as such that belong to the Will Do not we read in Scripture as well of the Spirit of Wisdom and Knowledg Counsel Understanding as of the Spirit of Love and Meekness c. And if they will grant that there are such intellectual Graces that belong to the Understanding as well as others that belong to the Will shall not these intellectual Graces be made fruitful by the Spirit and Understanding in whom they reside and are placed as well as these other in the Will. Again Will they not grant that the Spirit helpeth us to conceive Words at least in Meditation Or will they confine us to see Forms of Meditation as well as of vocal Prayer I suppose not seeing no such set Forms are yet extant and they themselves take liberty to their Meditations upon religious matters and preach to the People these said Meditations and yet I suppose they will reckon at times the Spirit helpeth them to conceive these Meditations which cannot be conceived without words And further The words of these set Forms of Prayer whence came they Had the Spirit no influence upon the Understandings of those Men who conceived them to help and assist them in those Conceptions If they say nay they will render the set Forms of Prayer of small value what the People in that respect But if they say the Spirit did help them to form these Conceptions of the words of their set Prayers then such a Gift is not ceased in the true Church for it was in these men who penned and conceived those Prayers it may as well be in men now to conceive other words of Prayer But 4. Praying by a set Form not only tendeth to limit and stint the Spirit and quench it in regard of its operations but also it tendeth to make the Understanding and divers other Faculties and Abilities or Powers of our Souls and the intellectual Graces and Vertues seated and planted in them altogether barren and unfruitful in respect of Prayer which yet ought to exercise the Understanding as much as any other thing as Paul said I will pray with the Spirit I will pray with the Understanding also For if the Understanding be limited to a set Form of Words then there is no room nor place nor liberty left for it to bring forth Prayer in any other Forms the which seemeth verily as absurd to me As who would limit the Earth to bring forth only such a limited and determined number of Forms of Vegetables Flowers and Fruits and not only so but to limit her as to length breadth and depth of each Form which we know is an impossible thing for the Forms of all living and growing things must have liberty to spring out from their respective Seeds Principles and Causes otherwise they will not grow but wither and die And as the Forms of Vegetables must not be limited and stinted to such peculiar Figures and Dimensions much less the Forms of Animals and yet far less the Forms and Figures of Mens Bodies and Faces For among all the many millions of Mankind that have been or are upon the Earth never were any two found but did more or less differ in outward Form and Figure in the Face or Countenance And surely as differing as Mens Bodies and Faces are so much or rather more do the Thoughts or Conceptions of their Understanding differ and to limit them all to one Form of inward conceptions of Words is as vain as to stint and determine all Men to have one and the same Form of Visage or Countenance And he who would go about to limit the Figure of the Childs Body and Face in the Mothers Womb to another shape and form than God and Nature hath designed to have would do amiss and be occasion of causing the Womb to miscarry and render it barren rather than any way to help it I know it is answered by some that the fruitfulness of the Understanding may show it self in other Exercises and Performances whereas man also may use his Gifts freely as in Preaching Writing Conference c. But why not in Prayer as well as in these other for to restrict yea and to hinder and stop the fruitfulness of the Understanding and the intellectual Graces seated therein in one respect is of a tendency to stop its fruitfulness and render it barren in other respects A Woman that is with
empty of all thoughts or meditations in respect of any particular subject or matter of discourse and not having one particular Subject more than another in his view but his mind and Conscience singly exercised towards God suddenly and as in the twinkling of an eye a particular subject is presented unto him or the opening of some particular place of Scripture and here the Lord chuseth his Text for him and ground of his discourse or if it be to Pray the matter of his Prayer and his heart that was empty before of thoughts as to these matters is now filled with living thoughts and meditations concerning them being made fruitful to bring them forth by the showre or Rain of the Divine influence of the Holy Spirit in a moment or twinkling of an eye And at other times the case is otherwise as a little at first given and then a little more as it pleaseth the Lord to order and as the condition either of the Speakers or Hearers doth require it as even in natural conceptions of natural things those men who have a fruitful understanding and a quick and ready invention upon any fit occasion how suddenly and as in a moment will plenty of good and pertinent matter arise in them to discourse of If in a Lawyer to discourse of the Laws if in a Physician to discourse of Physick or in a Phylosopher to discourse of Moral or Natural subjects of Phylosophy the which extemporary and ready discourses when they come from a mans heart and the real fruitfulness of his understanding have alwaies more acceptance and authority with the intelligent and discerning Hearers than long studied or premeditated Speeches which according to the Proverb Smell of the Lamp and have more of Art than of Nature in them and more of Form than Substance And extemporary discourses that flow and spring freely from the fruitfulness of a man's understanding and the noble and generous parts or faculties of a well composed and clear mind are like fresh waters that have newly streamed from the living Spring or Fountain of them that on that very account are more sweet and pleasant than discourses long since premeditated and treasured up in the memory which through their oldness contract a certain tincture and lose of their freshness and sweetness of savour even as water long kept in a Cistern And if these extemporary discourses of Natural things flowing only from a natural fruitfulness of man's understanding have more acceptance and authority with the judicious Hearers than long studied Sermons dressed up with paint of Art how much more are those extemporary Speeches to be valued and how much greater authority have they and true and real acceptance with all discerning Hearers whether in Preaching or Praying which proceed from the rich and fruitful Soil of a good and honest heart abundantly watered and made fruitful with the descendings of the venly Showres and Rains of Gods holy and blessed Spirit And if it be yet again Replyed That the limitting or confining of him that prayeth to a Set Form doth not hinder the fruitfulness of his understanding for his mind and understanding is still at liberty to have as many and as various good and holy Meditations and conceptions of thoughts and words as is possible for him to contain or comprehend only he is outwardly limited to those forms as to his Tongue and Mouth whereas his mind and understanding doth remain free to abound in the greatest variety of good and holy thoughts and meditations For the people who hear they may also abound in these good thoughts and meditations who notwithstanding do not open a mouth in the Assembly either to Preach or Pray To this I Answer As there are many good thoughts and meditations which God giveth unto men for their own particular comfort and profiting such as these which the people have who do not speak so there are also many which God giveth for the comfort and profiting of others and especially of the Church And these ought not to be suppressed but uttered and brought forth in the Lord 's leading and ordering according to his appointed time and season And if the Lord move and require a man to bring forth these good things out of the good Treasure of his heart as certainly at one time or another he will so move and require where these good things are given to the man not for himself alone but also for others Is it not a plain limitting and confining the Spirit and mind of a man not to give him liberty either in Preaching or Prayer to bringforth what the Lord has put in his mind for that very purpose Is not this like the hindring the Child to come out of the Mothers Belly when its appointed time is come and to make her Womb its Grave then which what can be imagined more cruel But 5. There is this great hurt and inconveniency to limit and confine both Speakers and Hearers to Set Forms of Prayer the one to Speak and Read them the others to Hear them that it cannot be supposed that those Set and stinted Prayers will either alwaies or at most times suit and agree with the present states and conditions of the people The Scripture saith That words spoken in season are like pictures of Gold in Apples of Silver And concerning Isaiah it was said That the Lord had given him a Word in Season to the weary Soul. And indeed a word spoken in season whether it be in Preaching or Praying how sweet and comfortable it is Now these Set Forms of Prayer being to be used according to the Calendar such Prayers on such a day and others on other daies as the Calendar or order of the Service requireth Can these Forms be alwaies or for most part seasonable to the peoples states and conditions unless it could be supposed that the inward states and conditions of mens Souls and Spiris should regularly vary according to the Seasons and Daies of the year which were most absurd to think or imagin Or how do these Set Forms of Prayer which tell us daily what to Pray for agree with Paul's words Rom. 28. The Spirit also helpeth our infirmities for we know not what we should Pray for as we ought And if it be said That most of those Set Forms are conceived in such general words that they may suit or agree with all the various states and conditions of the peoples Souls To this I Answer To suit or agree with them in a general way is one thing and to suit them in their particular cases and circumstances is another And besides it is not upon the bare words of Prayer so much that relieveth and comforteth the Souls of people as the life that goeth along in words that are uttered from the heart of the Speaker as God giveth him a sense of the various and several states and conditions of the Hearers according to which sense of their various States he is furnished both with sutable
words and a sutable degree and measure of life to accompany them wherewith to minister in Prayer and whereby the faint and weak desires of the Hearers many times are enlarged and strengthened But it can never be supposed that he who only reads a Set Form of Prayer out of a Book according to the order of the Calendar or repeats it from his memory can Pray with either such fit and sutable matter of words or can minister that sutable degree and measure of life that the Hearers require and stand in need of for where the words are not seasonable life will not join with them to make them effectual and profitable to the Hearers I know it will be hard for these who have not the inward experience of the workings of the Divine Life and Spirit in their own Souls to believe or imagine how the Speaker who is assisted to Preach or pray with the Spirit of God can have a distinct and clear feeling of the several states and conditions of the people and in that sense and feeling be enabled by the same Spirit who gave this sense to him to minister to them all that which is seasonable both for matter and life However this is abundantly known and witnessed to those who have an inward experience of life and its workings in themselves to be a truth for as in the natural body one member hath a sence of its fellow members and the more noble that one member be its sence of the other members is the more universal full and comprehensive Even so is it in the Body of Christ which is his Church and how can it be otherwise when as the Scripture saith All the single hearted and upright minded Professors of Christ are of one heart and soul as expressing a greater unity and sympathy or fellow feeling than that of the body as if to be of one Soul were more than to be of one Body for if the parts of the Body have a sence one of another much more the powers and faculties of the Soul have a discerning and sympathy one with another 6. And lastly To add no more here altho many more reasons might be brought against the using of Set Forms of Prayer the whole Superstructure dependeth upon a false and wrong bottom or foundation viz. an Opinion that immediate Inspiration and Revelation is ceased or discontinued in the Church and in and among true Christians as well as false for I dare say If they who are so zealous for using Set Forms of Prayer did but believe that Immediate Inspiration and Revelation did remain in the true Church of God and in and among true Christians this would presently end the dispute and determine the Controversie betwixt them and us for when Immediate Inspiration and Revelation was in the Church as in the Apostles daies and for some considerable time thereafter they readily grant that men then prayed and sung Psalms ex tempore without Book by the Spirit and therefore if they did now believe that such a dispensation is restored and restoring again and was never altogether lost among true Christians although much impaired and diminished by reason of the general Apostacy and prevailing power of darkness that was over the greatest part of those called Christians they would lay aside their Set Forms and wait for this Divine Gift But it were too long and unseasonable a labour in this place to prove that Immediate Revelation and Inspiration doth remain in and among all true Christians I shall therefore refer the Readers to what our Friends have writ on that subject and particularly to two Treatises of mine And withal I beseech all sober and impartial people laying aside all prejudice to weigh and consider upon what slender and weak Arguments that Opinion is built which saith That Immediate Inspiration and Revelation is ceased in and among all true Christians And above all I recommend them to the Light of Christ Jesus and the manifestation of his holy Spirit of Truth in every one of their hearts and Consciences that bears witness to every necessary Truth as they hearken to it and with their minds turned to the said Light and Spirit of Truth to read and search the Scriptures diligently in that very respect as the Noble Bereans did of old and the Lord give them understanding in that and all other necessary things I shall now proceed to Answer the most ordinary Objections that seem to have most weight for using Set Forms of Prayer whether in the Church or in private 1. It is Objected That Set Forms of Prayer and Blessing the People were used in the Iewish Church under the Law as Numb 10. 35. when the Ark set forward Moses commonly said Arise O God let thine Enemies be scattered let them also that hate thee flee before thee and when it rested he said Return O Lord to the many thousands of Israel And Numb 6. 23. Aaron and his Sons were on this wise to bless the people saying The Lord bless thee and keep thee the Lord make his face to shine favourably on thee And Joel the Prophet taught the People to pray saying Spare thy People O Lord give not thy Heritage to reproach that the Heathen should rule over them wherefore should they say among the people Where is their God Ioel 2. 17. And yet under the Law people had the Spirit of God and were to pray by the Spirit and Moses and Aaron who were to use these Forms of Prayer and Blessing were endued wiih a great measure of the Spirit and able enough to have conceived other Forms of Prayer and Blessing Ans. From their using Set Forms of Prayer and Blessing under the Law to argue for the use of them under the Gospel will not hold good for not only Sacrifices and Offerings of Beasts but many other things were both commanded and allowed under the Law which are not under the Gospel And although Moses and Aaron and many others in those daies had great plenty of the Spirit yet for the sake of the people who generally were weak and rude they were to go along with them in those Rudiments No doubt Moses and the Prophets saw to the substance and end of those Shadows and Figures and knew well enough that the blood of Bulls and Goats could not wash or purifie the Conscience and yet because of the general dispensation of the Law which was to continue until the fulness of time wherein Christ should be revealed they were to remain in the practise of these things which were afterwards to be abolished And though under the Law some Forms of Prayer and Blessing the People were to be used yet they were but few and very short and such as did proceed from the Spirit of God the matter and words of such Forms seem to carry in them some extraordinary Majesty or Glory and to have some deep and profound signification and force with them more than ordinary as we know some Scripture words and
sentences have more than others as that Spirit is felt from whom originally they came And though all the Scripture words did proceed from the Holy Spirit yet some have proceeded from a greater measure of it and more depth of the Divine Wisdom and hold forth somewhat of more Majesty and deep inward sense and mysterie and are commonly accompanied with a greater measure of the Spirit when they are used either in Reading or hearing them Read or in Meditation and may be also used at this day in Prayer as the same Spirit doth move any of his Servants thereunto either in part or in whole But we do not find that even under the Law or at any time before the Lord did limit and confine his People or Servants to such a precise number of Set Forms of Prayer and made unlawful unto them to use any others when they prayed in publick or that any one was ever forbid to whom God had given any spiritual gift of uttering words either of Prayer or of a Psalm or Song ex tempore by the help and moving of the Spirit to make use of it But on the contrary we find that many prayed ex tempore by the inspiration of the Spirit what the Lord did give them or put into their mouthes of words both in private and publick as Solomon's prayer at the Dedication of the Temple also Esdras's Prayer Chap. 9. and the Levites Prayer Nehem. 9. and Daniel's Prayer Dan. 9. and for private Prayers David's Prayers in the Psalms and Asaphs also Moses and Samuel and Habbakkuk their Prayers with many others under the Law are clear instances and before the Law Abraham Isaac and Iacob their Prayers Nor do we find that ever a Book of Prayers containing so many Prayers in number to be said or read in order was ever made in the Church by any of the Prophets as Prayer or as any part of Worship in the Law. For though divers excellent forms of Prayers are recorded in Scripture and put into Books yet they were not appointed by the Lord to be read or used in so many words without adding or diminishing as Prayers But they were read in the Congregation as other parts of Scripture pattly for information and partly to excite the Spirit and gift of Prayer in the Hearers Excepting only some very few short forms as above mentioned which did not hinder or stop the liberty of the Spirit of Prayer to express it self ex tempore in any other words And those few Forms they used as Prayers and Blessings we do not find they read them out of a Book when they prayed them but spoke them from their hearts where they were livingly as it were Writ and Recorded And tho the words of these short Forms were formerly conceived and in that respect were old or ancient yet as they uttered or pronounced them in a fresh and living sense of God's Spirit and power which never waxeth old this gave them alwaies a new luster and put a new Savour of life in them and made them as it were alwaies new to them And thus it is at this day with the Servants of the Lord whom he hath endued with a Spirit of Prayer who when they Pray either in private or in publick do frequently find and feel Scripture words of Prayer formerly conceived and uttered by the Servants of the Lord as Moses David c. to arise in them from a fresh and living sense of the Word of Life to speak them forth in Prayer and this without any limitation of the Spirit of Prayer but coming freely in the liberty of the Spirit and also of Heart Soul and Understanding and the liberty of the Spirit of Prayer as also of the Heart and Understanding of him that Prayeth is manifest in this that it is the free choice of the Spirit what words of Scripture to make use of and to bring into the Remembrance of him that Speaketh who doth not also limit or confine the Man's Understanding only to those Scripture Words but giveth him liberty to make use of any others that freely arise or spring up in him in unity with the life as it is opened in him as a Fountain or Well of Living Water 2. It is Objected That Christ taught his Disciples to Pray in a set Form of Words who even then were endued with a measure of the Spirit Matth. 6. 9. Luke 11. 2. Answ. Though they are endued at that time with a measure of the Spirit yet it was but small in respect of what was to follow And we must remember that as yet the dispensation of the Law remained in force and if Moses prescribed unto the People under the Law some short but of a very excellent composure Forms of Prayer and Blessing without limiting them only to these well might Christ teach his Disciples this short form of Prayer which is of a most excellent and wonderful composure in regard of its plainness and simplicity and yet most comprehensive in respect of the largeness and fulness of matter expressed in so few Words a most worthy Pattern of all our Prayers and of all that we can ask or desire for it is a sum of all the Prayers that ever was or can be made by any of the Servants of God and whatever is lawsul to be prayed for is most easily reducible to some of the Petitions of the said Prayer and though it hath great plainness and simplicity of Words yet great depth of matter and may be compared to Solomon's Temple which had not only the outer Court but the Holy place within it and within the Holy place the most Holy or Holy of Holies For beside the Letter and Words of it which answer to the outer Curt it hath a Holy inward Sense or Understanding which none can reach or come into but who are made a Royal Priest-hood unto God as none were to enter into the Holy place but such as were Priests under the Law. And although many Christians have reached to the inward Sense of the whole Prayer in great part yet who can say he has reached to the full depth of it and most inward Pith or Marrow thereof which is as the Holy of Holies It is a Question if any ever reached into the most inward Sense and Understanding of it but Christ Jesus himself who spoke and uttered it in whom dwelt all fulness and riches of Wisdom and Understanding who is our High Priest made higher than the Heavens and all the Angels that dwell in them But 2. Christ did not limit them only to this Form of Prayer nor did he give them a Book of Forms of Prayer or any other Forms that we read of but this only which therefore was rather to be a Pattern and Example unto them according to which they were to Pray than tye or confine them to the precise number of the Words of it as is clear from Matth. 6. 9. After this manner therefore said he Pray ye
And although Luke 11. 2. hath it When yee Pray say Our Father c. Yet Luke may be expounded by Matthew as one place of Scripture is oft expounded by another So that Luke may very well be understood according to Matthew his words thus When ye Pray say viz after this manner Our Father c. Nor can this one only short Form of Prayer be a sufficient argument to make a large Book of Forms of Prayer and impose them by constraint upon Christians For either this one Form of Prayer taught by Christ was sufficient for the Apostles without any other or it was not if sufficient for them why not also for all other Christians And yet I know not any sort of these called Christians who confine themselves only to it or are willing so to do but think it needful to express their Prayers frequently in other Words for variety and change of Words when the matter is the same doth help to stir up and beget in men the more Fervent Affections But if that one only Form was not sufficient to the Apostles it is clear that Christ did not intend by teaching them that Form to give them or their Successors an intire System or Scheme of Common Prayer but as is already said to be a Pattern or Example unto them and also to afford unto them matter of Meditation as the Holy Spirit should open the deep and comprehensive Sense of it unto them so that by a due and serious and deliberate Meditation upon all the parts and words of it by the help of the Spirit they might be stirred up unto Prayer their hearts being lifted up unto God upon the Meditation on every part of it by saying Amen thereunto or expressing the inward desire and prayer of their hearts in the same or more words as the Holy Spirit should be pleased to enable and assist them And though I cannot and dare not recommend it to be read or said as a Prayer twice or thrice every day in a dead formal customary way as too many do nor can I limit any to the strict and precise number of words in it to pray by without using any more or less words lest thereby I should seem to limit the Holy Spirit who is most free in all his Workings Yet I can and do freely thus far recommend it even unto all Christians as well great as small as a most worthy subject of their frequent Meditation which the Spirit of the Lord will not be wanting to incline them unto and assist them in And how often in the Day Week Month or Year they are to Meditare upon it or how long their Minds and Hearts are to dwell upon the Thoughts and Meditations of it or any other places of Holy Scripture no outward rule can be given but must all be left to the free ordering and leading of the Spirit which I certainly believe as it is regarded and minded will be found very frequent For it is a great part of the Spirits Work and Office to bring the Scripture words and especially the words of Christ to our remembrance and the more useful and necessary any words of Scripture are unto us no doubt the Holy Spirit that Faithful Remembrancer will bring them to our Minds the more frequently and seasonable And I know no words in all the Scripture that are more necessary and profitable unto us to be remembred and often meditated upon than those very words contained in this excellent Form of Prayer taught by Christ. And indeed not only these few Words of Prayer taught the Apostles by Christ but any other words of Prayer whither Recorded in Scripture or that are Writ and Recorded any where else that have proceeded from a true Breathing and Spring of Life in these who first conceived and expressed them in word or writing may be and are of great service So that Forms and words of Prayer which proceed in the least measure from the Spirit of Prayer we are not against but for and our Souls have oft been greatly refreshed and quickned by them and the Spirit of Prayer yea true Prayer and Supplication hath oft been excited in us at the reading or hearing read such Prayers as are frequently to be found not only in the Scriptures but in the Books of true Martyrs and Witnesses of Jesus What precious Words of Prayer have oft dropped from them althongh but a little of those is recorded and it might be wished more of these precious words of Prayer or Thanksgiving and other Testimonies that came from the Spirit of God in them which flowed from them had been preserved if it had been the will of God. How oft when we hear or read or call to mind these precious Words of Prayer or some part of them that any Servant or Hand-maid of the Lord has uttered either at the Hour of their Death or any other time by the Spirit of the Lord which we find upon record in true History How oft I say and how purely doth Life spring in us and bear its Living Witness to the Original and Fountain of those Prayers out of which they have proceeded even the Pure and Holy Spirit of God and Christ And what pure inward living powerful and comfortable Touches of the same Spirit have we felt at such times confirming our Heavenly and Spiritual Unity with those dear and precious Servants of the Lord. Therefore I say we are not against Words or Fruits of Prayer for all Words have a Form that have at any time come or do and may come from the Spirit but are very much for them as fit and proper Subjects of Meditation and Occasions as the Spirit of the Lord is pleased to concurr to excite the Grace of Prayer in us thereby or any other Divine Grace and Gift as doth oft come to pass Also all such Prayers are excellent patterns and examples unto us of Prayer but yet we cannot set them up to be read or heard as our Prayers so as to tye and confine our selves or others to the precise number of the words contained in them Not can we acknowledg that the bare reading or repeating the Words are a Prayer as many do ignorantly imagine for all true Vocal Prayer comes from the Heart as it is moved and wrought upon by the Holy Spirit and the Words of Prayer simply considered are not properly the Prayer otherwise every one that hath and useth the words should pray those Prayers which is far otherwise but the words are but the signs and expressions of the Prayer which was in those who first conceived them and are called Prayer only by a Figure or Metonymie of the Sign for the thing signified And whereas it is objected by some that these Forms of Prayer as they are good and fit patterns of our Prayers so they may be used by us as Prayers even as some Weights and Measures which are kept as Standards to make other Weights by may be used themselves as
liberty to each other in the Holy Spirit of Truth and growing up together in God's Heavenly Garden as lovely Plants and Flowers each one having their proper Shapes Forms and Fruit all of a sweet and pleasant smell and taste and of a lovely Beauty and all useful and profitable one to another and to the Church of God in general without any envy or grudging but rejoycing in the manifold and various Graces and Gifts of God freely bestowed upon all and all growing and springing from the same Holy Root and Ground And now these two main Objections being Answered at length which did require the opening or explaining of divers things which may be of service to some I shall proceed to answer some others wherein I may be more brief 3. They object That some having good Hearts and great Love and strong Affections towards God and Heavenly and Divine things yet have weak Heads and Understandings and are not able well to conceive Words of Prayer in their Understandings And therefore should not these be helped by hearing or reading set Forms of Prayer well and Piously composed Answ. None have such weak Heads or Understandings if they have good Hearts or any measure of True Love and Affections towards God and Divine things but the same Spirit of Love which beget in them those good desires and affections hath been and is also in them a Spirit of Wisdom and Understanding to beget in them or help them to conceive good Thoughts and Words of Prayer sufficient for them as is above proved and made apparent for the Spirit of God works upon the whole Soul and all its powers and abilities and as well upon the Understanding as the Will and whatever the Will cleaveth unto or the Heart loveth is first proposed and represented to the Understanding in Thoughts as lovely and desirable And if a Man have not Elâ—cution either none or small God requireth but of every man as he giveth him and he who cannot Pray with his Mouth as in the case of those who are Dumb if he pray with his Heart shall be accepted But he who can read a Prayer if his Heart and Understanding were as well and as much exercised in Divine and Spiritual things as in Earthly and Temporal and had as great a love to them and delight in them would soon find himself furnished with Words ex tempore whereby to express the desires of his heart to God And indeed in true and real Love there is for most part an admirable Force or Virtue to make a man Eloquent both to praise the thing he loveth most and also to find out Reasons and Arguments wherewith to perswade to the obtaining it He who loveth a Woman and greatly desireth to have her to be his Wife he needeth not go to a Book and steal or borrow an Oration or Form of Discourse to speak unto her in order to perswade her and if he did it would but coldly come from him and if she did know it as a very small measure of good discerning cannot but discover it that it was a borrowed Speech she would not perhaps accept it nor answer it But the natural and simple words that flow from the love of his Heart would most prevail and have the greatest force It is not Eloquence or Excellency of Speech that God requires or regards the profit and service of it is unto men and not unto God. It stirreth up mens Affections to make them the more servent but doth not more prevail with God than more simple and mean words yet God will have every man to use his own Gift and it is but want of Love to Divine and Heavenly things and want of exercise in improving and stiring up the Gifts which God hath given them that makes them think extemporary prayer by the help of the Spirit to be so hard and difficult Why may not Men find Words and Expressions as ready and easie wherewith to seek a thing of God by the help of his Spirit as they find them wherewith to seek a thing from Men which few or none do in borrowed Forms of Speech composed by another unless it be to some King or great Person that some who are feeble minded and want courage make their address by borrowed Words or by something writ on a Paper or by some other they get to speak for them But none of all these things is necessary in this case for God invites the weakest and meanest to call upon him as well as the strongest and the meanest words where the Heart is sincere are accepted of him yea suppose the words were broken and imperfect and not according to the Grammar of the Language they may be used at least in private And as for publick Prayer in the audience of an Assembly or Congregation these whom God calleth to such an Employment or Office he will no doubt sufficiently qualifie and furnish them for he who made the mouth can easily put words in it As when Moses excused his being sent to Pharaoh for his want of Eloquence The Lord said unto him Who hath made man's Mouth or who maketh the Dumb or Deaf or the Seeing or the Blind Have not I the Lord Now therefore go and I will be with thy Mouth and teach thee what thou shall sav Ex. 4. 11. And tho the Lord sent Aaron to assist him who was naturally more Eloquent yet God also put Words in Moses his Mouth as well as in the Mouth of Aaron And when Moses Prayed unto God in the Mount that Israel might prevail over Amalek we do not read that Moses borrowed any words from Aaron or that Aaron put any words into his mouth only Aaron and Hur helped to hold up his Hands And surely Moses in his Prayer here used not any Form of Prayer borrowed from Aaron or any body else altho some from this passage and Moses his being less Eloquent than Aaron have argued for using set Forms of Prayer But we cannot find it in Scripture that Moses stood with a Book of Common Prayer in his Hand and Read or Prayed out of it upon the Mountain but that he had in his Hand a Rod. 4. They Object That many by Reading or Hearing read set Forms of Pious and Godly Prayers both in publick and also in private have found their Souls and Hearts refreshed thereby and what they did read or hear read hath oft stirred up true and living Breathings in them and hearty Desires and Supplications with Thanksgivings unto God. And it is hard and uncharitable to judge that all they who read or hear set Forms of Prayer in private and publick and seldom or never use Extemporary Prayer are altogether void of true Devotion and never Pray by the Spirit because they alwaies or for the most part Pray by the Book Answ. I do readily grant that Reading or hearing Read Words of Prayer whether in publick or private if these Words have been originaly conceived by the Spirit
of Gods help and assistance may and do at times refresh the Souls of True Christians and may and do excite or stir up true and living breathings and hearty Desires and Supplications in them with Thanksgivings unto God at Seasons But then it is so when the Reading or Hearing those words of Prayer are put in their true and right place and accounted and valued to be what they are indeed and not another thing which is to say when hearing or reading those words of Prayer are accounted hearing and reading as they are and not Prayer which they are not for hearing and reading are things differing in Nature and Kind from Praying and ought not to be confounded with the same and the greatest service and advantage that reading or hearing words of Prayer read by another unto us have or indeed can have is but Preparatory to excite or stir up unto Prayer and then only can they do so much but as the Spirit of the Lord is pleased to concur and give his assistance with them But if People confound these so differing things and set up the bare reading or hearing what is read in the place or room of true Prayer as if they were true Prayer it self they may provoke the Lord to with-draw that concurrance and assistance of his Spirit from reading and hearing those words however so good yea tho Scripture words and altogether blast and make ineffectual and unprofitable those exercises which otherwise and in themselves considered are lawful and profitable For the Lord who is a God of order he will not have the nature of things confounded but keeped distinct He will not have a thing judged or esteemed to be what it is not or above what it is the tendency of which in this very case is down-right Superstition and Idolatry as to judg that to be Prayer and Divine Worship which is no such thing for whatever is not true Prayer and Divine Worship and yet is called so and really so judged and esteemed is false and a sort of Idolatry For I know no midst betwixt true Divine Worship and Idolatry under that head of Worship seeing all pretended Divine Worship is either true or false and if false it is a sort or kind of Idolatry Now it deserves to be well examined and considered whether the putting reading and hearing read set Forms of Prayer either in publick or private in so high a place as many put them if not most or all who use them hath not provoked the Lord to deny that concurrence and assistance of his Spirit unto those exercises which otherwise he might and would give especially when those read Prayers do altogether exclude those real Prayers which come from the Spirit of God as he enables the Speakers to conceive and bring them forth in words without any set Form. And why is it that many sensible and tender Souls feel no Vertue in many or most of those read Prayers and on the contrary feel great deadness and heavyness and great weights and burdens in hearing them which hath occasioned many to with draw and seek where to find a People where true and living Prayer and Praises are to be found which effectually reach to the Soul and carry their Souls and Hearts along to join with them For neither is it true Prayer to hear the words of him that prayeth most effectually by the Spirit of God but where the Heart and Soul joineth and goeth along by the moving of the same Spirit both in Speaker and Hearers that is true Prayer Again if People should not so far mis-place those things as to judg reading and hearing read Prayers to be Prayers or any part of Divine Worship yet if they lean too much on them and rely more upon them than they should and have more an eye and regard unto them than unto the Spirit of God this also will make their reading and hearing or any other exercise ineffectual unto them and altogether unprofitable But Secoudly I shall neither be so hard nor uncharitable but am very far from it as to judg that all they who hear or read set Forms of Prayer in private and publick and seldom or never use Extemporary Prayer by the help of the Spirit giving them to conceive or express words of Prayer are altogether void of true Devotion and never Pray by the Spirit For my Charity is so large and free in that respect that I believe among all People Jews and Turks as well as Christians and many of those called Heathens if they do believe in one only God and are Faithful to what they know they are at times visited with gentle breathings of the Spirit of God which helps them truly to Pray unto him with desires and affections and true breathings of the Soul after him It is one thing what the Lord doth by high and soveraign acts of his wonderful Mercy and Condescendence to the Children of Men and another what he doth to them upon terms of their doing what he only requires of them and is pleased with in them 5. It is Objected If the Spirit of God doth dictate unto any Men in our days the words of their Prayers in that case those words would be as good Canonical Scripture as any of the Prayers of David or of other Holy men and their Psalms recorded in Scripture which were absurd to affirm Answ. These words of Prayer which come truly from the Spirit of God helping and assisting the Speakers to conceive and express them are no doubt real Divine Testimonies of God's Spirit Light and Life according to their measure but to compare or equal them to Scripture as we do not so to infer it is unequal For if all the Divine Testimonies which originally did livingly and purely proceed and spring from the Spirit of God hadbeen writ and aded to the Scripture the bulk or volumn of it had been too great yea many Volumns would not have contained them and it had been impossible for men to have read them all Therefore God hath Wisely and Graciously ordered it by his Divine Providence that a part of these many Testimonies which have come from his Spirit should be left upon record and preserved to all future Generations which were writ by some of the most Eminent of his Holy Prophets and Apostles and which have been unquestionably received in all Ages among the best sort of Christians who have had a true discerning to favour these Holy Writings and Testimonies and that what hath been so writ should be generally received as unquestionable Testimonies and Oracles of God's Holy Spirit and acknowledged as a publick Standard Rule and Touch-stoue whereby to judg and examine all Doctrines and Principles of Religion held forth by any Now it was altogether necessary that this publick Standard and Touch-stone of all Doctrines and Principles of Religion should not be too large and voluminous but compendious and easie to be read over and diligently searched and examined in a short time
be active and fruitful both to himself and others also It 's true the same Paul speaketh of a case wherein the Spirit Prayeth but the Understanding is unfruitful as it happened at times when a man was so inspired and moved by the Holy Spirit that he spake in an unknown Tongue as appeareth from 1 Cor. 14. 13. Wherefore let him that speaketh in an unknown Tongue pray that he may interpret And in this case it is like that as the Soul's Understanding was unfruitful so it was unactive and was used only by the Spirit as a passive Instrument like a Pen in the Hand of a ready Writer As when the outward Ear of a man receiveth the Voice of a strange Language which he doth not understand There are other cases also wherein the Understanding and Rational Faculties of man may be laid aside and not used by the Spirit of God when he Immediately Inspireth him as when the highest and most noble Faculty of a Man's Soul or Mind is excited and wholly imployed and exercised by the Spirit which by some is called the Spirit of the Mind by others the Visual or Intentive Faculty of the Soul which seeth God as he is pleased to reveal himself and whereby a man hath a sense or perception of Divine or Spiritual things without any use or exercise of his Understanding Reason or Imagination as in a Spiritual Rapture and extasie But for most part the Understanding and Reason was used and imployed yea and the Memory also by the Prophets and Apostles so as to remember what they had read or heard and seasonably to apply it to the present occasion when they spoke or writ by Immediate Revelation or Inspiration For Immediate Revelation or Inspiration doth not exclude the use of means whether inward or outward it only implyeth a most near and close or intimate conjunction and union of the Spirits Operation with the Soul in the use of means as well as when they are not so used And Solomon who is generally acknowledged to have writ both the Books of the Ecclesiastes and Proverbs by Divine Immediate Inspiration and Revelation yet he saith Eccles. 12. 10. He sought to find out acceptable words c. So that the Spirit of God made use of that Faculty or Ability of his Soul which is called by Logicians Invention as well as his Judgment not that he had any trouble or difficulty to find out those acceptable words but the Spirit making his Understanding Fruitful with plenty of matter and seasonable and suitable Words he freely and without any trouble or disquiet of his mind used such acceptable words 6. It is Objected That even they who pray ex empore by the Spirit in a Congregation of People do stint or limit the Spirit in the Hearers and their Understandings and Attensions to consider what they who speak say no less than if they heard a Set Form of Prayer read unto them Answ. This is altogether denyed for first the Spirit of God in one can never be thought to stint the same Spirit or limit the operation thereof in another or many because the Spirit is the same in both and doth ever accord and agree with it self in all its operations and what it moveth the Speaker to Speak it moveth and inclineth the Hearers to consider and where true Unity is witnessed with one inward voice and cry of their Hearts they speak the same things unto God their Hearts at every Sentence saying Amen to what they feel and perceive to come from the Spirit of God in them who speak Nor doth it hinder the understanding and attention of the Hearers in being exercised towards the Spirit 's workings and openings in themselves For many yea and most times what the Spirit speaks through one doth excite the understandings of the Hearers into more faithfulness so that they have more opened and revealed unto them by the Spirit than what the Speakers words did import as oft also the like falleth out in Discoursing upon a natural subject where the words do signifie more to some Hearer than they do to the Speaker himself exciting clearer and fuller notions or ideas of Truth in him And thus even natural arts have been perfected when the first Inventers had but some small beginnings others by those beginnings have been excited to find out more perfect things as the bringing of the first words of a Sentence to a man's Memory which he hath forgot doth oft excite his Memory to remember the whole Sentence Nor is the Mind of Man so strait or narrow but it can well enough attend to what another Man sayeth in Preaching or Prayer and also to what God inwardly doth suggest or reveal unto him And the liberty of the Hearers understandings and Spirits is manifest in this also that after one has Prayed in words if the same Spirit reveal any thing to be spoken in Preaching or Prayer by any of the Hearers he is free to do it without giving any offence which was the order prescribed by Paul to the Church of Corinth 7. It is Objected That set Forms of Prayer are most for the edifications of the People who by often hearing of the same Prayer can commit it to Memory and so it passeth to the Understanding and remaineth with them whereas extemporary Prayers pass away for most part as a Sound and are little remembred Answ. This also is altogether denyed viz. That set Forms of Prayer are most for the edification of the People for admitting or supposing that the Hearers commonly by oft hearing these set Forms had them all perfect in their Memory yet it will not follow that they have a true understanding of them for men may and do remember many things which they do not understand But again either these set Forms of Prayer are few or many if few they cannot give a large understanding to the People if many they cannot be well remembred by them and if they were as many as would fill many Volumns they cannot give so great occasion to edifie and inform the understanding as these Prayers which proceed ex tempore by the Inspiration of the Holy Spirit in Holy men which must needs be many more and containing much more matter than the greatest Book of ever so many set Forms of Prayer can For on this account it is as I reckon why men are not tyed to set Forms of Preaching but are allowed freely to exercise their gift because that is more edifying to the People than set Forms to Preach by would be unto them And the same reason is as good concerning Praying as Preaching And tho words of ex tempore Prayer without the Spirit pass away as an empty transient sound yet by and with the help of the Spirit both in speakers and hearers they take impression both upon the understanding and memory of People who are made tender and sensible And tho all or most of the words spoke be not remembred yet if they have