Christians to offer in my Defence and justification 1st That when I reflect on Jo. Bunyan's Groanings I do it only to shew his false and absurd Interpretation of Rom. 8.26 where he misapplies the Groanings the Apostle there speaks of to himself and other Men which plainly belong to the Spirit of God being such as cannot be heard or uttered as the Groanings of Men are and I do not hereby condemn the Sighs and Graans which good People out of a deep Sense of their Sins and Sorrow for them may and often do utter in their Closet Devotions and private Ejaculations which tho' none but God sees and hears yet he approves and accepts them the better and meerly for their being Sincere and Secret he will one Day Reward them openly Mat. 6.4.6.18 but as for such Sighs and Groans which are vented in the Congregation a thing constantly practised among the Quakers as well as J. Bunyan and his Party and other Dissenters we have no Precept or Example for them either in the Old or New Testament We read or hear of no such thing in all their Religious Assemblies and particularly those three great ones wherein the Spirit of God assisted in a more extraordinary manner than he has ever done since that time I mean when the Apostles and Disciples to the number of an Hundred and twenty met together and Prayed to God to direct them in the choice of a Successor to Judas Acts 1.15.24 and when they were assembled on the Day of Pentecost Acts 2.1 when Three thousand were Converted by St. Peter's Sermon ver 14.41 when the first great Council was assembled at Jerusalem Act. 15.7.12 and when St. Paul Preached his farewel Sermon at Troas continuing his Speech till Midnight Acts 20.7 in all which places we read that the People either kept Silence or were sorrowful and pricked to the Heart or else spake in diverse Tongues the wonderful Works of God but we do not find there was one Soul that Groan'd among them which I the rather mention because all these were wonderful Conversions and extraordinary Effusions of the Holy Ghost so little Authority from the Scripture have any Dissenters for the frequent Groanings which are heard among them in their respective Meetings or for their making these Groanings an infallible Mark of their having the Spirit of God they are rather sometimes a Mark of Hypocrisie and that those that Delight and Pride themselves in them do this as the Scribes and Pharisees did of old only to be heard and seen of Men Mat. 23.2 And therefore whatsoever good Men may do in private between God and their own Souls when none sees or hears but God alone yet in publick they are careful to avoid such loud and frequent Groans at least to be very sparing in them least instead of passing for Saints they should be taken for vain-glorious Hypocrites 2dly As for my slighting J. Bunyans and the Dissenters Pretences to Pray by the Spirit I must confess I do so in that Sense they intend it who imagine and say That the Holy Spirit Invents and Dictates all the Words of their Prayer unto them which is to make Almighty God to multiply Miracles without necessity and to make also the Words of their Prayer as True Infallible and Divine as the very Words of Scripture being both equally Inspired by the Holy Ghost a thing that has not been known since the Apostolick Age and then it was always accompanyed with the Gift of Tongues and the different and contradictory Prayers of the Quakers Anabaptists Independents and Presbyterians who all confidently pretend to Pray thus by the Spirit and yet Pray one against another is a sufficient Confutation of it for the Holy Spirit is one and not contrary to himself and all his Intercessions for the Saints are to the same end in the same manner and according to the same good Will and Pleasure of Almighty God but all this is Perform'd in a Secret Invisible and Vnutterable way and so is the Assistance which he affords to good Men even by godly Motions and holy Desires which are kindled within them and which they can only feel in their Hearts but not hear with their Ears or express with their Tongues and such an Assistance of the Holy Spirit our Common Prayer Book allows of and teaches us to Pray for it in the beginning of Morning and Evening Service after Confession of our Sins the next Prayer which is in Form of an Absolution runs thus Wherefore let us beseech him to grant us true Repentance and his Holy Spirit that those things may please him which we do at this present and that the rest of our Life hereafter may be Pure and Holy c. Before the repetition of the Ten Commandments the Collect has these words in it Cleanse the Thoughts of our Hearts by the Inspiration of thy Holy Spirit that we may perfectly love thee and worthily magnify thy Holy Name c. In the Litany one of the Petitions is That it may please thee to give to all thy People increase of Grace to hear meekly thy Word and to receive it with pure Affection and to bring forth the Fruits of the Spirit And 't is worth our Observation that what some are pleas'd to call the Gift of Prayer is not mentioned among the Fruits of the Spirit which are all particularly set down Gal. 5.22.23 as Love Joy Peace long Suffering Gentleness Goodness Faith Meekness Temperance neither is it reckoned among the Gifts of the Spirit which are recounted Isa 11.2 as Wisdom Vnderstanding Counsel Might Knowledge Godliness and the Fear of the Lord nor yet in 1 Cor. 12.8 9 10. where they are plac'd in this Order The Word of Wisdom the Word of Knowledge Faith the Gifts of Healing the working of Miracles Prophecy discerning of Spirits divers kinds and Interpretation of Tongues in both which places there is no mention of the Gift of Prayer tho' in one of them there is of the Gift of Prophecy and therefore these Mens Pretences to Pray by the Spirit as a peculiar Gift of his has no Foundation in Holy Scripture indeed for any to express themselves well on a sudden and to Pray with variety and fluency of Words is and may be called a Gift of God and so is Speech Memory and Invention which nevertheless are all common to good and bad Men and capable of being improved by industry and use and more apt to Puff up than Edify and to make such as have them despise and decry all that use Forms as Formal Superstitious and Graceless Men that want the Life Spirit and Power of Prayer and yet I doubt not but many good People can testify this by their own Experience that some notorious Hypocrites have this Gift of Prayer and some devout and sincere Christians continue in the use of Forms and reap the Comfort and Benefit of it And 't is farther observable that all the Gifts of the Spirit enumerated by St. Paul were
Liturgy's Vindicated BY THE DISSENTERS Or the Lawfulness of Forms of Prayer and Liturgies PROVED From the very Texts of Scripture urged against them by John Bunyan and the Dissenters By the Author of the Religious Conference between a Minister and his Parishioner about Infant Baptism 2 Pet. 3.16 In which are somethings hard to be understood which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest as they do also the other Scriptures to their own Destruction LONDON Printed for C. Brome at the Gun at the West end of St. Pauls 1700. THE CONTENTS A PREFACE giving an Account of the Undertaking and secret Juggle of some in pretending to Pray by the Spirit how they are meer Deceivers and Men-pleasers in it Chap. I. Shewing Jo. Bunyan's Imitation of Satan not only in urging Scripture and suppressing so much thereof as makes against him as particularly 1 Cor. 14.15 which is Explain'd and Vindicated from the false Glosses he puts upon it and turned full upon him but also in his intolerable Pride impudent Calumnies and railing Accusations against us and a Question is asked How poor Creatures shall Pray in their Families who have not this pretended Gift of Prayer Which his Party are desired to Answer some better way than by bidding them to Groan Chap. II. Returning an Answer to his Objections against the Common Prayer Book and clearing it from the Imputation of Popery there being nothing thereof in it but Composed by Protestant Martyrs together with sundry Scripture Authorities for the Lawfulness of Forms of Prayer and our Observation of Christmas Easter and other Holy Days in Memory of the Saints Chap. III. Concerning his evasive Answers to our Saviour's Command for the use of the Lord's Prayer Luk. 11.2 which is briefly Explain'd and Confirm'd with some Reflections on his Rules for Prayer as also on the Presbyterian Directory wherein they as much limit the Spirit as we do by a Form as also concerning the falseness of his Assertion That none but Saints ought to say the Lord's Prayer from the known Examples of the Prodigal Son and Rich Man the one calling God and the other Abraham Father and from that Relation which God bears to us by Creation and Redemption he being on both accounts the Father of all Men. Chap. IV. Of the Anabaptists Persecuting Spirit and Cruelty towards other Protestants and particularly towards King Charles the Martyr and his Loyal Subjects and their Canonizing such Persecutors for Saints and Martyrs contrary to the Practice of those that deserved and had that Name among the Primitive Christians whose only Weapons were Prayers and Tears and of that Persecuting Passage in the solemn League and Covenant where they are Sworn to Extirpate us Chap. V. Of some Texts of Scripture Jo. Bunyan brings for the Prohibition of the Common Prayer Book which are all shewn to prove no such thing but rather the Lawfulness of using it Chap. VI. Of two other Places of Scripture which he produceth to the same purpose as Zach. 12.10 and 2 Tim. 3.5 which rightly Explain'd do both conclude against him and for the Lawfulness of Praying by a Form Chap. VII Of his two Scripture Arguments for Praying by the Spirit as 1 Cor. 14.15 and Rom. 8.26 shewing them to be impertinently Alleged and clearing them from the silly Exposition and Paraphrase he makes upon them and proving that one at least if not both of them establish Forms of Prayer and overthrow his Pretences of Praying by the Spirit Chap. VIII Of two plain Proofs that Jo. Bunyan and his Party have not the Spirit which they pretend to viz. 1st The Schism which they have made and continue in the Church with the Rebellions they have rais'd and carryed on against the State 2dly The scurrilous and unchristian Language they utter against us which is exemplified in some farther Instances than were given in the first Chapter Chap. IX Of another Proof to the same purpose from his evil Counsel about the Education of Children whom he would rather have to live without Praying at all than to be taught it by any Form whatsoever which does not savour of the Spirit of God no more does his Beastly Expression in calling this a Nuzzling them up in a Form Chap. X. An Apology for the Author least his Book be Condemned as undervaluing the Holy Spirit and the Assistance which he affords is farther Explained and Stated and Proved not to consist in the Groans or extempore Effusions of Men but in Godly Motions within us and the fervent Desires of the Heart the Life and Soul of Prayer being Faith Hope and Charity and such an Assistance of the Holy Spirit our Church admits and teacheth us to Pray for The Conclusion An Address to all the Members of our Orthodox Church of England not only to Pray but also to Live according to the Common Prayer Book even a Godly Righteous and Sober Life to the Glory of God's holy Name Amen THE PREFACE TO THE READER BEing sensible that some Men will censure me for entring the Lists with such a Combatant where it will be no Credit to Conquer but a mighty Disgrace to be overcome I think my self obliged to give this Account of the Undertaking to reconcile the Reader to what I have hereafter Written least otherwise looking only on the Title-Page he should grow Angry and Impatient and throw away the Book The Discourse I here Answer was sent me from an Anabaptist of my Parish and as I have reason to believe by the Order and Direction of one of their Teachers as a choice Piece which might take me off from the use of the Common Prayer Book whose Morning and Evening Service I wish were constantly offer'd up entire in all other Families as well as mine when it cannot be perform'd in Publick and I am confident they will receive no little Comfort and Satisfaction in so doing but having read it over I found so much Railing Wresting and Mis-applying of Scripture almost in every Page and so little Reason and Truth in any thing he said I once thought his reviling impertinent Discourse unworthy of any other Answer but what the Archangel returned to Satan Jud. 9. The Lord rebuke thee Bunyan But when I considered the high Value the whole Party set upon such slight scurrilous Pamphlets how this was Bequeathed as a Legacy by the last Will and Testament of one of them to a surviving Friend to convince the World That whether Living or Dying they have no Charity for us and how they are contented that themselves and subtle Books should be let alone to Creep into Houses and lead silly Women I may add Men too Captive who are sooner caught and seduc'd with crafty and incoherent Reasoning than with close and sound Arguments and when they have gain'd them for Proselytes and drawn them into the wild Mazes of their numerous Errors 't is very hard to reduce and bring them back into the way of Truth On all these Accounts I judged it needful
eaten do not they forbid to handle i. e. Psalms Hymns and Spiritual Songs which St. Paul has commanded to be Sung And what is all this but to subject others to their own Ordinances which are but the Commandments and Traditions of Men Thus those very Texts of Scripture which these Men foolishly brandish against us sometimes urging them against Infant Baptism sometimes against Sprinkling sometimes against the Cross and other Ceremonies and sometimes against our Common Prayer as our Author here do all turn upon themselves and give them a deadly and incurable Wound CHAP. VI. BUT if none of the aforementioned Texts will serve the turn but rather prove mischeivous to him Jo. Bunyan has Two in reserve that shall effectually confute us the first is Zachar. 12.10 I will pour upon the House of David and Inhabitants of Jerusalem the Spirit of Grace and Supplication c. which being Prophesied of the Gospel Days he thence infers that the Spirit is the Author of all our Prayers and therefore must needs invent and dictate them to us in Answer to which I say 1st That what we Translate the Spirit of Supplication may as properly be rendred the Spirit of Mercy and so the Seventy render it the Word in the Original signifying as well to shew Mercy as to Pray and then the Argument deduced from this Place is of no force at all that because God wou'd have Mercy upon the Jews who are here meant by the House of David and Inhabitants of Jerusalem in bringing them out of Captivity that therefore we Christians have a Promise here to Pray by the Spirit in that Sense our Author wou'd have it 2dly If we allow the Vulgar Translation in rendring it the Spirit of Supplication and that this Prophecy has respect to the Gospel Days it was fulfilled on the Day of Pentecost when so many Thousands were Converted by St Peter's Sermon of whom it is said they were first pricked to the Heart Acts 2.37 i. e. for all their Sins and particularly for that great one of Crucifying of Jesus Christ and so they looked on him whom they had pierced as the Prophet foretold they should in the same place by the Eye of Faith and Repentance and received from him the Spirit of Grace and Supplication i. e. such miraculous Gifts and Graces as were bestowed upon the Apostles and first Disciples of our Lord and were confined to that Age when was fulfilled also that Prophecy of Joel Chap. 2.28 29. as St. Peter assures us Acts 2.16 This is it i. e. those miraculous Gifts which you see us have which was spoken by the Prophet Joel 3dly The Holy Ghost is called the Spirit of Supplication because all those Prayers in the Old and New Testament which were made by the Prophets and Apostles and particularly that of our Lord were immediately Inspired and Dictated by the Holy Ghost and they are left upon Record as so many Patterns for us to Compose our Prayers by them on the like occasions and so the Spirit helps our Infirmities in teaching us to Pray according to these Scripture Forms 4thly Because the Holy Spirit stirs us up to this Duty and assists us with fervent Desires in the actual Performance of it on this account also he may be Styled The Spirit of Supplication altho' he does not Dictate to us the very words of our Prayer as he did to the Prophets and Apostles and for any to pretend he does unless they can produce the like Miracles as the Prophets and Apostles wrought is the greatest vanity and Presumption in the World 5thly We may on as good or better Grounds affirm that he is called the Spirit of Supplication because He assists us in the Composure and Devout use of godly Forms of Prayer since 't is said Zach. 12.11 In that Day shall there be a great Mourning in Jerusalem as the Mourning of Hadadrimmon in the Valley of Megiddo and how that was we are given to understand 2 Chron. 35.25 And Jeremiah lamented for Josiah and all the Singing-Men and Singing-Women spake of Josiah in their Lamentations to this Day and made them an Ordinance in Israel i. e. the Jews had a Form of Prayer and Lamentations to be Sung with doleful Notes every Year to Condole the great Loss of that good King Josiah And if the Spirit of Supplication will cause us to Mourn in our Prayers before the Lord as the Jews did we must compose and use the like Form as they did and such a Form have we in our Common Prayer Book wherein on January the Thirtieth we Mourn for our English Josiah I mean King Charles the Martyr and therefore it ought to be continued as an Ordinance among us like that of Jeremiah 's among the Israelites and 't is to the Shame and Scandal of some of our Clergy that this Day is antiquated and the Anniversary-Service disused in several Places and I mention it for no other Reason but in hopes they may be speedily Reform'd or exemplarily Punished John Bunyan's second reserved Proof is p. 112. How will the Favourers of such a Practice i. e. Forms of Prayer answer that Scripture which commandeth the Church should turn away from such as have a Form of Godliness but deny the Power thereof 2 Tim. 3.5 and this he had urged before p. 57. The great Cheat that the Devil and Antichrist deludes the World withal is to make them continue in the Form of any Duty the Form of Preaching of Hearing of Praying c. These are they that have a Form of Godliness but deny the Power from such turn away But this Text also tho' he repeats it and puts false glosses upon it makes nothing to his purpose but rather against him for 1st St. Paul does not here Condemn a Form of Godliness having Commanded it a little before in the very same Epistle 2 Tim. 1.13 Hold fast the Form of sound Words which thou hast heard of me And surely the same Apostle who Commands us to hold fast cannot be supposed so changeable as to Command us to turn away from a Form of Godliness that can never be the meaning of the Place to make the same inspired Penman to Write Contradictions in the same Epistle When therefore he upbraids them with having a Form of Godliness it was only because it was separated from the Power thereof i. e. they had put asunder those things which God would have united as Almighty God upbraids the Jews with the Multitude of their Sacrifices their vain Oblations Incense new Moons and Sabbaths as if he did not require but abominate them and yet these things God himself had strictly enjoyn'd under great Penalties Isa 1.11 12 13. But the Reason why he is there said to loath them is because their Hands were full of Blood they did not bring these Sacrifices and Oblations with such pure Hearts and clean Hands with which he commanded them to be Offer'd at his Altar ver 15 16 17. Now this Author might
of an extraordinary and miraculous Nature as the Gift of Healing diverse kinds of Tongues working Miracles and the Faith there mentioned among them was not such as is ordinary and saving even to believe that Jesus Christ is the true Messias and Saviour of the World but it was a Faith of an extraordinary and miraculous Nature even to believe that God would enable them to Work the Miracle they were about to perform before the People for the Apostles never attempted to work a Miracle till they had this extraordidinary Faith wrought in them first by some Divine impulse from the Spirit which assured them that they should certainly perform the Miracle they undertook for had the Apostles at any time failed in such attempts and set about a Miracle which they were not able to work it would have exposed them mightily to the World and given a great Blow to the Christian Religion and made them and it to be looked on as an Imposture and therefore they had always first a strong and infallible Impulse upon their Minds which St. Paul calls also Faith to assure them they could and should be able to work the Miracle before ever they attempted to do it but this and the other Gifts he there reckons up were not ordinary and saving which every good Christian may now hope for but they were extraordinary and miraculous as is farther evident from 1 Cor. 12.11 But all these worketh that one and the self-same Spirit dividing to every Man severally as he will i. e. no one Person had all these miraculous Gifts before mentioned but they were variously distributed among them one had this another had that another a third and so on and they all ceased in that Age which cannot be said of the saving Gifts and Graces of the Spirit where he that has one in truth has certainly all of them as he that truely has saving Faith has also Hope and Charity Patience and Meekness in some measure they being all knit together as so many Links in the same Chain that there can be no Separation made between them and these shall never cease and the not understanding and considering this is the main Cause I doubt that many in this Age expect and pretend to those extraordinary and miraculous Gifts of the Spirit which are long since ceased as St. Paul declares they should 1 Cor. 13.8.13 Charity never faileth but whether there be Prophecies they shall fail whether there be Tongues they shall cease whether there be Knowledge it shall vanish away and now abideth Faith Hope Charity these three but the greatest of these is Charity But little or nothing of this is to be found in all Jo. Bunyan's Book which I have here Answered as I believe any one will find that does not think his Labour lost to read it The CONCLVSION AND thus having with his own Weapons Vanquish'd this Anabaptistical Goliah that is Armed Cap-a-pee with Brass I shall close all with this short Address to the Armies of our Israel That they would every one of them get a Common Prayer Book that is able to use it and think himself Naked and Vnarmed without it as a Soldier does that is without his Sword and that they would not only have their Common Prayer Books about them but also make use of them in their daily Devotions and not only use them but put them also in Practise by their daily Conversation in living a Godly Righteous and Sober Life as they are therein taught to do without this tho' our Prayers are never so good and we make never so many of them they will signifie nothing they will do us no more Service than the Ark of God did the Israelites when they relyed on it only for their Deliverance and Preservation and did not take care to walk worthy of the Divine Presence which resided therein and dwelt among them 1 Sam. 4.3 Let us fetch the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord out of Shiloh unto us that when he cometh among us it may save us out of the Hand of our Enemies Thus they thought and earnestly expected but were soon convinced of the contrary by the overthrow of their Army and the taking of the Ark it self and carrying it in Triumph into the Philistines Camp ver 10 11. And thus has it fared with our Common Prayer Book when we too much rested in it and made use of it with Formality Lukewarmness and Indifferency and not with a suitable Zealand Devotion it was twice thrown out of the Church and taken from us and carried Captive by our Adversaries of Geneva and Rome who tho' they seem to stand at a distance and defie one another yet they both agree in this to Hate our Common Prayer Book and to do what they can to destroy it and nothing but our walking unworthy of it nothing but the Sins of our Priests and the Iniquity of our People can give them once more their desired Success against it wherefore let all the Members of our Orthodox Church shew their Soundness and Sincerity by something else than the bare use of the Common Prayer in their respective Families by something else than Drinking numerous Healths to the Prosperity of both for I must needs say such numerous Healths as these are one of the Diseases she at present labours under and there is no hopes of a Cure till all her Sons grow wise unto Sobriety till they all shew themselves sincere Christians and sound Protestants by something else than bare Names and meer outward Professions even by living Godly Righteous and Sober Lives as our Common Prayer Book teaches us to Pray every Day in its general Confession and we are bound to Practice in our daily Conversation in short our leading reformed Lives and our Walking as well as Praying according to the Common Prayer Book is the best the only way to Preserve it and the Reformed Religion among us FINIS