accordingly attributed to the Elders of Ephesus whom S. Paul had ordained Mr. Hookers glosse in his Eccles Polit. is accordingly Receive the Holy Ghost i. e. Accipite potestatem spiritualem receive ghostly or spiritual Authority in order to the soules of men now to be committed to your charge And if you mark the context their Commission is here from the blessed Trinity the Father and Sonne in the verse before As my Father hath sent me so send I you And in this verse a reception of Authority from the third person the Father sends Matth. 9.38 Chap. 10.20 the Sonne Ephes 4. here the Holy Ghost as Acts 20. And so more fully thus Receive the Holy Ghost i. e. receive Authority from the Father Son and Holy Ghost for the efficacious preaching of the Word and Administration of Sacraments by and through which the graces of the holy spirit in repentance faith forgivenesse of sins and the like are ordinarily wrought and confirmed to the hearers and partakers of them yet not excluding it from being a Prayer also viz. that the person thus authorized might receive such a spiritual assistance in it Receive first by way of donation in the name of Christ as to the office and secondly by way of impetration as to the efficacious spiritual assistance of him in it which the accustomed succeeding prayer did confirm which as it was in both senses frequently effectual by the mouth and hands of the Apostles so hath it been accordingly from age to age in and by the Ministery succeeding and therefore why may not the same form of words be used at their Ordination also Can we think this solemn reception of the Holy Ghost in that sense as hath been explained was onely for the benefit of that age and withdrawn totally again in the next That his being with them thus by his spiritual assistance to the end of the world was to determine with the death of the Apostles some of which as Saint James Acts 12. were not long after No surely this oyle poured upon their heads descended further then so even to the skirts of their garments in these dayes The third Chapter of the first Epistle to the Corinthians hath much in confirmation of this In the third verse Saint Paul styles the Minister ordained by Christ his Amanuensis ye are the Epistle of Christ ministred by us written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God Christ the inditer the Minister is as the hand of a ready writer or the Spirit is as the ink the Minister as the pen through which 't is diffused upon the fleshly Tables of your hearts and by saying us he doth not appropriate it to himselfe but gives the like to Timothy ordained by him which he continues in the sixth verse God hath made us able Ministers of the New Testament not of the letter but of the spirit as he calls the Word the sword of the spirit Ephes 6. committed into the hands of the Ministery so the whole office is called the Ministration of the Spirit v. 8. the Ministration of righteousnesse v. 9. i. e. instrumentally be it that of Justification or Sanctification by which he saith it did exceed in glory that under the law The shining of Moses face the glory of the Temple and vestments of the Priests were glorious but yet had no glory in this respect by reason of the glory which excelleth for if that which is done away were glorious how much more that which remaineth is glorious Now wherein lieth this glory but in being by this Ministration the Conduits through which the Spirit is conveyed and received or being cap. 6.1 co-workers together with him of it even as the glory of the latter Temple by the presence of Christ himselfe is said to be greater then the former though it had types of him in a more outward glorious lustre 't is therefore called v. 18. the glass of the glory of the Lord by which we are changed into the same Image from glory to glory even as by the Spirit of the Lord. Which as it rebukes the Contemners of the office of the Ministery so it answers that frequent objection made against the use of these words at the Ordination to it viz. That the Sanctifying graces of the spirit were sometimes lacking both in the Ordainers transmitting and ordained the recipients It is answered the Transmission or reception of the Holy Ghost here is not meant in that sense as to the resting of it in the persons themselves but as the conveyers of it for the use and benefit of others viz. through these Administrations which they are now by this authorized to performe And that it may be so ye see it in Judas who by our Saviours Commission to him through preaching and baptizing was the instrument accordingly of the transferring of it i. e. remission of sins c. unto others without partaking of it himself our Saviour calls him a Devill and a son of perdition but yet in this Office the Devils were subject to him and he the means of dispossessing of others like Noahs Carpenters who were instruments to save others but were drowned themselves 'T is probable Saint Paul or some of the Apostles ordained Hymenaeus and Phyletus Phygellus Hermogenes and Diotrephas but as in neither of them doth there appear any sanctified grace of the spirit so we do not read it caused any suspension of the vertue of their ministerial acts to the receivers or that the Apostles gave order for any reiteration of them personal faults not voyding Acts of Office and so why should the like be a prejudice to it in these succeeding Ages Receiving supposeth a gift but 't is as the giving of a summe to a Steward by his Lord not to his own private use but for the dispensing of it to the family And to say no more there are some learned Interpreters do apply that passage 1 John Chap. 2.20 to an ordained Ministery yee need not that any man teach you but as the same anointing teacheth you all things and is truth (a) Eadem unctio non potuit luculentiore testimonio Pastores doctores ornare à quibus illi instituti fuerant quotidie adhuc instituebantur quam quum ipsos diceret ab ipso Spiritu Sancto doceri jam antea esse doctos Beza's words upon the place are these the same anointing he could not with a more cleare Testimony have adorned the Pastors and Teachers from whom they were instructed and daily as yet are then to say they were taught by the holy Ghost had bin formerly c. (b) Piscator in loc Vnctio docet id est ministerium verbi i. e. Spiritus Sanctus efficax per praedicationem Evangelii quare ministerium verbi in pretio habendum est Piscators words are these The anointing teacheth i. e. the Ministry of the word or the Holy Ghost efficacious by the preaching of the Gospel wherefore the Ministery ought to
taught his And the Reconciling of the Evangelists is easie viz. It was our Saviours mind that it should be both a rule for all other and said for a prayer also and that which is a rule for others must needs be in the highest degree so it selfe A Standerd for any measure dry or liquid may be used for that measure too and so 't is no contradiction that the Lords prayer should be as the measure for other prayers and said for a prayer also And that it was so understood by the Fathers in the Primitive times I shall onely represent unto you some of the words of Saint Cyprian in his Sermon upon it who lived about 250. years after our Saviour and died a Martyr He exhorts the people not to omit the use of the Lords prayer with their other prayers in which he hath some such speeches as these surely thou art more likely to obtein thy request cum qui habitat intus in pectore ipse sit in voce when he that is in thy heart is also in thy tongue How can God but hear thee when thou comest in the words of his Sonne takes up the prayer sanctified by his sacred mouth If thou hast no other prayer use this if thou hast others use this also and urge God daily in his own language and with the words of his beloved Son Like him that catched up Alexander in his Armes to appease his Father Phillips anger so saith he take up Christ in thy Armes make him thy spokes-man by taking up his own words that is with right understanding and affection By these and the like expressions in that Father may be seen what was the judgement and practice of the Primitive times in relation to the use of that form of the Lords prayer which the Divines of (a) Sicuti quoque tota vetusta Ecclesia id sâ—mper extra controversiam habuit viz. Precaetionem hanc Christi non esse tantum rectè precandi normam sed insuper quâ—que ritè precandi formam Synops Theol. disp 36. Sect. 33. Leyden do averre clearly that without controversy the whole ancient Church did alwayes observe it not as a Rule only but a Form of prayer 'T is one extremity to make an absolute necessity of the using it alwayes and an other extremity not to use it at all Our Church that in each service at least once owned it as the principall and parent of the rest was free from any vain repetition So much for the first thing observable in our Saviours giving a form to his disciples which is a warrantable president for the Church to do the like for her Members 2. Our Saviour gave himselfe a form of words Matth. 26.44 he went away the third time and prayed saying the same words it was at three severall times and with some distance between each and which is more observable it was at his Passion In afflictions we are most apt for various expressions yet even then he that was the Wisdome of the Father and excelled in language the tongues of men and Angels and could have abounded in the variety of Elegancy yet varied not the phrase but kept the same words surely it was for our example and to teach us that prayer consists not in words but in the earnestnesse of affection let no man except against the use of the same prayer twice Our Saviour used it thrice and as the Apostle saith he was heard in what he prayed and 't is the observation of the (a) Imò Christum in cruce pendens deprecationis forma á Davide tanquam typo antea observata usus est Matth. 27.46 Ibid. above-named that our Saviour observed a set form of prayer upon the Crosse used before by David Psal 22.1 as in the Type My God my God why hast thou forsaken me as those words Into thy hands I commend my Spirit are out of Psal 31.5 3. He doth not only prescribe a form of words in prayer but in the Sacraments 1. Baptisme Mat. 28. Go and Baptise them in the name of the Father of the Son and of the holy Ghost Which Form of words the ancient Church ever observed without any variation as containing with the Element of water the matter and form of Baptisme and in the Lords Supper the three Evangelists give us his very words used by him in the Consecration of it and is commended to the Church of Corinth by Saint Paul who received it from the Lord also and surely are to be accordingly used by us 4. 'T is observable how he himself observed the set Formes used by the Jews at the Passover both in prayer and praises see Beza on Matth. 26.20 and Ainsworth on Exodus 12. granting it and that the wod 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 John 16. ult should be rendred having sung the Hymnes or Psalms which they say were a set portion of Psalmes of praises which the Jewes call their great Hallelujah from the 113. Psalm to the 118. as also divers others of our learned Writers conceive Paulus Burgensis Scaliger Drusius c. And can that of the Apostle Col. 3.16 exhorting to praise the Lord with Psalms and hymns and spiritual songs imply any other then a set form of words according to our custome yet retained in singing of Psalms in the congregation And may not that of our Saviour Mat. 18. Where two or three of you shall agree together touching any thing they shall aske c. imply that a prayer composed by the consent and unanimous agreement of the Church to be the more prevalent put all these together and are they not a Cloud of Witnesses at least to confirm and support the weaker sort in knowledge and utterance who though of sincere hearts yet cannot suddenly poure forth their desires in fitting expressions worthy as they conceive the eares of Almighty God but must make use of the pennes and formes of others or of what they have premeditated and framed to themselves surely in these if their hearts be as they may be raised to a due height of holy affection God accepts of them The necessary requisites to a prayer are such as these That the person be acceptable that the matter be good that it be done in the right manner i. e. with understanding with affection and that rightly ordered and qualified and the end rightly terminated with a submission to Gods will for the time and measure with the like which I cannot now insist upon But I never heard of any Divine that hath wrot of it to have put in this for one viz. That it must be suddenly poured out without premeditation of matter form or method Object The common Objection is this that a set form is a limiting or a stinting of the spirit in prayer which ought not to be Answ 1 First this is but an unwritten Tradition for if the spirit of a single Prophet in extraordinary gifts must be limited in a subjection to the greater number of the Prophets 1 Cor.
43.3 is said to have destroyed the City by being said to pronounce destruction to it The Primate observes that we often meet with these speeches concerning the Leprosie which was a Type of the pollution of sin the Priest shall cleanse him the Priest shall pollute him Lev. 13. according to the Hebrew and the Greek version and out of (a) Contaminatione contaminabit eum haud dubium quin Sacerdos non quo contaminationis Author sit sed quo ostendat eum contaminatum Hieron lib. 7. Esa cap. 23. Saint Jerom that 't is said verse 44. the Priest with pollution shall pollute him not that he is the Authour of his pollution but that he declares him to be polluted and uncleane whereupon the Master of the sentences and others do observe (b) In remittendis vel retinendis peccatis id Juris Officii habent Evangelici sacerdotes quod olim habebant sub lege legales in curandis leprosis Hi ergo peccata dimittunt vel retinent dum dimissa adeo vel retenta indicant ostendant Ponunt enim sacerdotes nomen Domini super filios Israel sed ipse benedixit sicut legitur in Num. Petr. Lomb. l. 4. sent dist 14. that in remitting and retaining of sins the Priests of the Gospel have the like power and office which the Priests of old had under the Law in curing the Lepers who therefore accordingly may be said to forgive and retaine sins whilst they shew and declare they are forgiven or retained of God (a) Num. 6. So the Priests put the name of the Lord upon the children of Israel and were commanded to blesse the people in saying The Lord blesse thee but it was the Lord himself that blessed them according to the next words and I will blesse them And thus in these four things I leave it to be calmly considered of if the Ministers have not power left them by Christ in relation to forgivenesse of sins and with these limitations whether that part of the old form of the words of Ordination might not be continued also which seems to me to be explained in the next following them viz. And be thou a faithfull dispenser of the word and Sacraments c. through both which the graces of the Holy Ghost and remission of sins are conveyed and sealed in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost According as in the words at the Communion used to the recipient the former clause was added in Q. Elizabeths dayes to give the more full sense of the latter And let not any by this Moderate expression extenuate the office of the Ministery as Bellarmine would by this inferre that any Lay-man Woman or Child may absolve as well as the Minister as we have among our selves too many of that judgement For it consisteth not in speech but in power or Authority he being as the officer of a King Authorized to make Proclamation of his pleasure Every man may speak one to another to the use of edifying but to them is given 1 Cor. 10.16 power to edification God hath made them able Ministers not of the letter but of the Spirit That from them it comes 1 Thess 1.5 not only in word but in power also and in the Holy Ghost and in much assurance which accordingly hath been experimentally found that howsoever another may from the Scripture shew as truly unto the penitent what glad tidings are there intended to him yet to drooping and doubting soules it hath not been so efficacious in quieting them and giving satisfaction to their consciences either in sicknesse death-bed or otherwise as by the Ministery ordained and commissionated for that end That as 't is their office to pray and exhort you in Christs stead to be reconciled unto God so having listened to that Motion and submitted your selves accordingly 't is their office to declare and assure unto you in Christs stead that God is reconciled with you All which appeares to be the ancient doctrine of the Church of England by what is publickly declared in the exhortation before the Communion to be read sometimes at the discretion of the Minister which is the recitd and approved by the Primate as followeth And because it is requisite that no man should come to the holy Communion but with a full trust in Gods mercy and with a quiet conscience therefore if there be any of you which by meanes aforesaid i. e. Private examination and confession of sinnes to God cannot quiet his own conscience but requireth further Councell and Comfort then let him come to me or some other discreet and learned Minister of Gods word and open his grief that he may receive such Ghostly Councel Advice and Comfort as his Conscience may be relieved and that by the Ministery of Gods word he may receive comfort and the benefit of absolution to the quieting of his conscience and avoyding of all scruple and doubtfulnesse And now let the Reader judge if Dr. Heylene hath not cause to repent of his rash censure of the Primate in his late book p. 108. as if in this part of his Answer to the Jesuite he had as he saith in this particular utterly subverted as well the doctrine of this Church as her purpose in it c. when those two arguments which himself urgeth from the words of Ordination and the exhortation at the communion are produced and defended by the Primate also What would he have he saith the doctrine of the Church of England is that The Priest doth forgive sins authoritativè by a delegated and commissionated power committed to him from our Lord and Saviour doth not the Primate say the same that 't is not only declarativè but designativè not only by way of information out of the word of God as another understanding Christian may do to the penitent that his sins are pardoned but he doth it authoritative as having a power and commission from God to pronounce it to the party and by the seale of the Sacrament to assure the soule of the penitent that he is pardoned of God which no other man or Angel can do ex officio but the Minister of Christ according to that of the Apostle To us is committed the word of reconciliation this is the summe of the Primates judgement He that would have more must step over into the Church of Rome for it I shall only make a trial whether Doctor Heylene will so conclude against Mr. Hooker as he hath against the Primate who in his sixth book of Ecclesiasticall Policy consents fully with him where after his declaring that for any thing he could ever observe those Formalities which the Church of Rome do so esteem of were not of such estimation nor thought to be of absolute necessity with the Ancient Fathers and that the form with them was with invocation or praying for the penitent that God would be reconciled unto him for which he produceth Leo Ambrose (a) Sacerdos
People presse on by prayer Conference reading If Christs Voyce be to be heard If Rome be Babylon Come out of her And let it be spoken with as litle offence as it is delight We that seem to be the forwardest in Reformatino are not yet so come out of Babylon as we have not many shamefull Badges of her Captivity witness her Impropriations being indeed plaine Church-robberie devised to maintain her Colonies of idle and irregular Regulars Idle to the Church and State Zealous and Pragmatical to support and defend her power pomp and pride by whom they subsisted witness her Dispensations or dissipations rather of all Canonical Orders bearing down all with her Non obstante her Symoniacal and Sacrilegious Venality of Holy things her manifold Extortions in the Exercise of Ecclesiasticall Jurisdictiction which we have not wholly banished Let each of us therefore account it as spoken to himself Come out of her my People In this Journey let us not trouble and cast stumbling blocks before Gods People that are ready to come out or hinder one another with Dissentions in matters either inexplicable or unprofitable let it have some pardon If some be even so forward in flying from Babylon as they fear to go back to take their own goods for haste and let it not be blamed or uncharitably censured if some come in the Rear and would leave none of Christs People behind them No man reacheth his hand to another whom he would lift out of a Ditch but he stoops to him Our ends immediate are not the same but yet they meet in one final intention The one hates Babylon and the other loves and pitties Christs People There the one believes the Angel that cast the Milstone into the Sea in the end of this Chap. with that word so shall Babylon rise no more The other fear the threatning of our Saviour against such as scandalize any of the little ones believing in him that it is better for such a one to have a Milstone hanged upon his neck and be cast into the Sea himselfe Finally let us all beseech our Lord Iesus Christ to give us Wisedome and opportunity to further his work and to give success unto the same himself to hasten the judgement of Babylon to bring his People out of this bondage that we with them and all his Saints in the Church Triumphant May there upon sing a joyfull Hallelujah Matth. 18.6 as is expressed in the next Chapter Salvation and Honour and Glory and Power be unto the LORD our GOD Amen Halleluiah A Confirmation of the Judgement of these two most Reverend and learned Bishops in this particular and the vindication of it from the aspersion of Novelty or Singularity from some grounds out of the Ancient Fathers the continued Suffrages of learned men in successive ages and the most eminent Bishops of England and Ireland of later yeares occasioned to be the more large by the Censure which Doctor Heylene in his late book gives the Primate and the Articles of Ireland for it FIrst For the Fathers who lived before that defection or Apostasy whch was to preceed and prepare the ways for the man of sin 2 Thes 2 3. there could not be expected from them any such direct application unlesse they had a Spirit of Prophesie themselves Rome was in the Primitive times a pure Church and the least infected with Arianisme and other heresies which then abounded in the Eastern parts being rather a receptacle of such as were banished thence by that persecution so that it must have been a Prophetick pen that should then have affirmed that righteous City should become an harlot 'T is true there might be a conception of that man of sin but till his birth there could be no judgement given of him iniquity was breeding but in a mystery verse the 8. like the child in the womb which the Mother of it cannot then be assured but it may prove an abortive and harlots use to keep their conceptions close and undiscerned till they are forced to discover them Now this being thus in the conceiving and producing of that wicked one the silence of the Fathers as to so early a sentence whatsoever they might suspect is not to be wondred at Diseases may be gathering in the body when neither the party himself is sensible nor the most skilfull Physitian can discern of the event fire may be kindling in the house but the next neighbours do not cry out of it till it be smelt or flame forth to their view And so there might be some such distempers and strange fire smothering in the Church of God for some 100's of yeares but till it brake out ye could not expect the Fathers of those ages could take any notice of it at least digito monstrare dicier hic est Secondly The prophesies of the New Testament are like those of Daniel in the Old shut and sealed up till the Time of the fulfilling according to that of Saint Augustine Prophetias impleri citius quam intelligi that prophesies are fulfilled before they are understood agreeing with that Rev. 1.3 blessed is he that reads and understands for the time is at hand 'T is the speech of Irenaeus (a) Omnes prophetiae priusquam habent efficaciam aenigmata sunt hominibus sed cum venerit tempus eveneâ—it quod prophetatâ—m est habent â— quidam dâ—â— câ—â—rtam exâ—â—siâ—◠〈◊〉 c. All prophesies before they are fulfilled are riddles unto men but as soon as the time is come and the thing prophesied is come to passe they have a clear and certain exposition our apprehension conceives no further then our experience reacheth unto That old Adage Veritas est temporis filia truth is the daughter of time hath its place here and in this sense the day shall declare it and therefore Andraeas Caesariensis in his Commentary upon the Revelation speaking of Babylon and who should be meant by it though he had his suspitions as living near the time of the revealing of it yet suspended his direct application only saying that the (b) Accuratam calculi notitiam tempus experientia revelabit vigilantibus accurate knowledge of the person time and experience will reveale it to the diligent observers What our Saviour said of John the Baptist for his knowledge of some mysteries foretold in the old Testament and living after the Prophets That he was greater then they and the least of the Ministers of the Gospel by surviving him to be greater then he so is it in this sense appliable to the after-ages of the Fathers who lived to see the fulfilling what is foretold of this subject by Saint Paul in the Thessalonians and Saint John in the Revelations Which is according to the judgement of Bishop Andrews in his Tortura Torti page 186. where having fully applyed that of Revel 17. 18. to the See of Rome he addes this (c) Minimè verò mirum si ista quae dixi
special their work as appropriated to them for which he chargeth them to know them to esteem highly of them as the like in his last charge to the Church of the Hebrews cap. ult 7.17 Obey them that have the rule over you in the Lord and that watch for your soules as they that must give an accompt and if that were the speciall office of the ministery then to have curam animarum why not now or where doth it appear the term is expired I conclude this point with an observation of the several steps of our declinings or defections of later yeares First we were offended at some titles of the Ministery then at the office it selfe First at such a Ministery so ordained then at the ordaining of any Ministery at all First the solemn Assemblies in publick were forsaken and a retreat made into corners then the Preachers themselves slighted called by Solomon the Masters of Assemblies First a ceremony in baptizing of Infants scrupled at then the Baptisme of Infants themselves nay the Sacrament of Baptisme by water called into question also First the Communion forborne out of offence to some gesture now the Sacrament it selfe neglected and contemned as if we may now live above and without Ordinances without any ordained Ministry to administer each as indeed the one must follow the other This is the train laid to blow us up what Jacob said after Joseph was lost and Benjamin must go too All these things are against me may be our application for the Church If any thirty years agone should have foretold that this Garden of God should have brought forth these weeds that such Tenents should have so prevailed among us he would have been by the most religious persons of that age taken for one that dreamed and they ready to have answered for their Mother-Church as Hazael did for himself when the Prophet told him what evill he should be the Authour of Let us be of moderate spirits and not run beyond the bounds of any president in the Primitive times walk not in wayes not cast up Jerem. 6.16 enquire for the old paths where is the good way and walk therein be not like those in the next words that said we will not walk in them but in new ones according to your own fancies Let the Tribe of Levi be purged but let not the physick be so strong as to destroy them Saint Paul magnified his own office this is but to support it from being trodden under feet and the end is your good that in these distracted times ye might not be without leaders so ordained and fitted to guide your feet in the way of peace and so much for the first A necessity of an ordained Ministery Now the second observation is that Ordination is not onely an internal Call of God but an external of man for so 't is denominated by that very act laying on of hands i. e. implying the hand of God is not all in the holy frame of the heart of the person by his spirit requisite in every true believer but there must be the hands of men in the designation of him in his name also The first was wont to be asked the person ordained Book of Ordination viz. Whether in his heart or conscience he found himself truly called to the Ministry according to the will of our Lord Jesus Christ This perswasion of his gave a capacity but the authority actually conferred on him was by the imposition of hands Ability and faithfulnesse were the qualifications but the commission to officiate was transferred to Timothy 2 Eph. 2.2 by that means Ye know those two memento's of Saint Paul to him Neglect not the gift 1 Tim. 4.14 Stirre up the gift of God which is in thee 2 Tim. 1.16 by the laying on of my hands and of the hands of the Presbytery if it should be asked What is here meant by the gift I conceive there is no necessity of understanding it either of gifts of ability or saving gifts of the Spirit for as the former doubtlesse were found in Timothy before his ordination and the latter from his childhood education 2 Epist cap. 3.15 cap. 1.5 so 't is a doubt if it were in the power of Timothy to transferre either of those by this means they being to be left to Christ himself who enlightens every man that cometh into the world and to that holy Spirit who blowes when and where it listeth but the surest sence is to take it for the authority given him for the officiating and exercising these abilities and transferring of it unto others And in this sence I grant gifted men may preach and perform other ministerial acts i. e. who with the internall have received this externall power and authority also according to Christs ordinance through imposition of hands Indeed the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is often taken for internall abilities and 't is not improbable but at the solemn meeting of the Church of God both Ministery and people in Fasting and Prayer which was the injunction of our Church should have been the practice to invocate God for the assisting grace of his spirit to be given to the person ordained might be prevalent for that end and that the receiving accordingly of ordination might be so far operative as to be a confirmation of the party the more against errors and heâ—esies in the execution of it The falling into which may possibly be the judgement of God upon some who of late dayes have run without it which agrees with the observation Chemnitius makes of Origen who neglected Orders and fell into the like and at last made himselfe incapable of them But I say again that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the forenamed place is most safely to be understood of the gift of authority to be exercised and transferred unto others by laying on of hands And 't is further confirmed by the many examples that do abound our Saviour gave his Apostles not only an inward call by his Spirit but an open verball call before the people Saint Stephen a man full of Faith and the Holy Ghost yet presumed not to officiate till he had imposition of hands from them Beware of making your selves Ministers our Saviour did not make himself a Priest Heb. 5.5 't is the blot layed on Jezabell that she made her selfe a Prophetesse Revelat 2.20 'T is frequent to hear an ordained Minister called Antichristian but consider who deserves that Title whether those that observe the rule of Christ and tread in the paths of the Apostles or such who without any president in Scripture or in primitive times are in this a law unto themselves And do but think what ill issue may in the future be of this promiscuous presumption upon the offices of the Ministery what doubts it may raise in our posterity in receiving of Baptisme by such as cannot answer to that question By what authority dost thou these things and who gave thee
ever in the Priests Pharises Scribes Sadduces c. yet as he permitted their administring of some rites for himselfe whether of circumcision or the offering made for him in the Temple at the purification after the custome of the Law in his infancy so at his manifestation about 30 yeares after he sends those that were healed by him to the Priests to offer what Moses commanded ye see he did not determine against the office for the personal defilements of their Predecessors or themselves 3. Nay under the Gospel about four hundred years after our Saviour Christ was not the world so over-run with Arrians that it groaned under it as St. Jerom saith when they had the commands of the Pulpits ordaining of Preachers children were baptized by them men put to receive the communion of them as Hilary and Basil say the Orthodox were hatched under the wings of the Arrian Priests yet upon a reformation and the renouncing of that heresie we read not of any rejecting of the succeeding Ministers because they were derived through such hands which I conceive to have been as bad as the Bishop of Rome and his followers The Church then was so wise as to consider a jewel looseth not his vertue by being delivered by a foul hand so neither is this treasure of the Ministry to be despised because it hath passed through some polluluted vessels to us which is appliable for the saving harmlesse our ordination though transmitted through the Popish defilements of some persons so much in vindicating the ordination of the Church of England from the scandall of being Popish Antichristian with which by some ignorant and rash people it is frequently aspersed Let me conclude with this short admonition Be not hereafter so unworthy as to blurre that Ministery with being Antichristian by whom ye have received the knowledge of Christ both by their translating of the Scriptures out of the Originalls into your Mother-tongue for your reading and their labour in the exposition of them for your understanding by whom you and your fathers have been baptized and instructed Be not such ill birds as thus to defile your own nests do not side with the agents of the Bishop of Rome in thus detracting and lessening the reputation and esteem of them Let them not say in their hearts so would we have it nor you with your tongues unlesse in your hearts you are Romish your selves Is it not strange that those who have been so great opposers of the errors of Popery wrot so learnedly and fully against them who have applyed that in the 2 Epist of the Thessalonians concerning the man of sin and that of Babylon in 17. Revel to the Papacy as Bishop Downham Abbot Jewell and the late eminent Primate with divers others that now they should with their very calling and profession be styled Popish can we think otherwise but that the hand of Joab I mean the Jesuit is privily in it Is it not a wonder it should so come about that such as have been the greatest enemies to the See of Rome should be reckoned as members and friends of it and thus perpetually yoked together as twins nay trod under foot as unsavory salt upon that very account as being Episcopall Is this a just reward of their labour in the defence of your profession thus to be aspersed by you as Absolon to Hushay Is this thy kindnesse to thy friend Certainly those of the See of Rome cannot but smile within themselves that they have thus covertly deluded us and so closely taken a revenge of those their adversaries How true is that speech of our Saviour A Prophet is not without honour save in his own country other nations French and German magnifie the Clergy of the Church of England by what is transmitted over Sea in many of their works onely despised at home as the off-scouring of the world what a preparative this is to the expectation of the Papists an able learned ordained Ministery having been hitherto the stop to the introduction of ignorance and superstition which if removed might flow in the more easily which God in his mercy prevent And thus I have endeavoured to confirm the Primates judgement upon this place viz. that by laying on of hands is meant an ordained Ministery The Primates judgement of the Sense and Vse of the Form of words in the former Constitution at the Ordination of Priests or Presbyters defended and enlarged viz. Receive the Holy Ghost whose sins thou forgivest they are forgiven and whose sins thou doest retain they are retained Which as an Appendix to the former subject could not well be omitted THey are the words of our Saviour John 20.22 to the Apostles and why they may not be continued to their Successors who are to succeed in that office of the Ministery to the end of the world doth not yet appear and 't is possible that the late offence taken against them to the disuse of them may arise from a misapprehension of the sense of them The Primates judgement of which I think fit to manifest who in all his Ordinations constantly observed them They consist of two clauses 1. Receive the Holy Ghost 2. Whose sins thou forgivest they are forgiven and whose sins thou dost retain they are retained 1. For the first Receive the Holy Ghost We do not here understand the sanctifying graces of the spirit For the Apostles had received them before in that they were bid by our Saviour to rejoyce that their names were written in heaven the evidence of which is heaven wrot in the heart here and had his witnesse that they had believed and had kept his word for whom he had also also prayed in that sense Sanctifie them through thy truth John 17. And if this had been the gift there had been no particular thing given to them for all that will be saved must in some measure partake of it Rom. 8.9 If any man have not the spirit of Christ he is none of his And though it be the testimony of a good Christian yet 't is not a sufficient warrant for him to take upon him the Ministery 2. Again it cannot be meant of the extraordinary gifts of the Holy Ghost viz. Gifts of tongues c. For in that sense the Holy Ghost was not yet given till fifty dayes after viz. the Feast of Pentecost but this was given upon the day of his Resurrection So that a third sense must be had which was the Primates as followeth 3. Receive the Holy Ghost i. e. receive Ministeriall power of officiating and dispensing those sacred Ministrations unto which the promise of the holy Spirit is annexed and through which as the Conduit-Pipes this holy water is conveyed not so much meant for their own benefit as the good of others In this he gave them power as the Stewards of God to be dispensers of holy and spiritual things to the benefit of such over whom the Holy Ghost had made them overseers which is
be in a great esteem with us Ye see they do not understand by this Vnction or anointing signifying the Holy Ghost an immediate teaching or inspiration as by some Enthusiasme but immediately through the Ministery ordained for that end by a Metonymy as they say of the Adjunct the oyntment for the hand which applyes it or delivers it to you and the teaching you all things is meant of all things necessary to salvation the credenda and agenda which by the Ministery had bin so fully taught them that they needed not to be taught by Saint John again here If any shall object as it hath been unto me that of Saint Augustine lib. 15. de Trinit cap. 27. Quomodo ergo Deus non est qui dat Spiritum Sanctum imò quantus Deus est qui dat Deum neque enim aliquis discipulorum ejus dedit Spiritum Sanctum orabant quippe ut veniret in eos quibus manus imponebant non ipsi eum dabant quem morem in suis praepositis etiam nunc servet Ecclesia c. i. e. How should not he be God who gives the Holy Ghost nay how great a God who gives God for neither any of his disciples gave the holy Ghost they prayed indeed that it might come upon those on whom they imposed hands they did not give it themseles which custom the Church now observes c. Answ 1. In the words before these he speaks of a double giving of the Holy Ghost by our Saviour the one on earth after his resurrection the other from heaven after his Ascension upon the day of Pentecost now in relation to the latter in those extraordinary gifts of the spirit the words objected have their principal application which doth not concern that we have in hand which is only of the former being meant of successive ministerial authority for the ordinarie dispensing of the office Secondly whereas he saith the Church hath observed that custome in imposition of hands to pray for the persons reciving of it hath bin formerly acknowledged to be one sense of that clause viz. by way of impetration Take the gift of the spirit pro dono infuso so we use the words per modum impetrationis take it pro officio so we use it per modum collationis ministerially conferring the power of executing the office of a Minister there is no contradiction but that in the same act there may meet a collation of the office with authority to execute and an impetration for the persons receiving an assistance of the spirit in the executing of it which in the old injunction immediately followed in a prayer for the person ordained accordingly so that the custome and intention of our Church is no other then what was in Saint Augustines time not presuming to give the Holy Ghost in the latter sense only praying it might be given of God to him but only in the former So much for opening of the first clause in ordination Receive the Holy Ghost which rightly understood is not such a rock of offence as some have taken it to be in the disuse of it The second clause is whose sins thou forgivest they are forgiven whose sins thou doest retain they are retained At which as much if not more offence hath been taken then at the former as if it savoured of Popery which I shall give you the Primates sense of also That it may be retained in ordination and attributed safely to the office of the Ministery without the least savour that way which no man that knew him and what Popery is but will acquit him of the least grain of it Thus far it will be granted by all sober persons 1. The Ministers may be said to remit sins by way of preparative to it in being the instruments by preaching the word of reconciliation to dispose men towards it in bringing them to repentance whereby they are capable of it 2. By way of Confirmation in exhibiting the seales of remission in the Sacraments according as one well glosseth upon these words 'T is Gods act onely to forgive sins but the Apostles are said to do it (a) Non simplicitèr sed quia adhibent media per quae Deus remittit peccata haec autem media sunt verbum Sacramenta Fer. in loc not simply but because they apply the means appointed of God for that end viz. the word and Sacraments What is there more in forgivenesse of sins then in reconciliation of God and man now ye find this given to the Ministery 2 Cor. 5.18 19. God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself not imputing their trespasses unto them and hath committed unto us the word or ministery of reconciliation Gods act onely authoritate propria by his own supreme authority the Ministers act potestate vicaria as a substitute in Christs stead and the word doth include the Sacraments also as in our usual speech the Letters Pattents doth the Seale affixed to them as the Ministery doth the whole ministerial office 3. Declaratively in testifying this grace of God and declaring Gods good pleasure accordingly upon repentance unto the person like that of Nathan to David or Saint Peter to his Auditory Acts 3. as Ferus saith (b) Non quod homo propriè remittet peccatum sed quod ostendet certificet adeò remissum neque enim alia est absolutio ab homine quam si dicat En tibi certifico te tibi remissa esse peccata Annuncio tibi te habere Deum propitium c. Ferus lib 2. Comment in Matth. cap. 9. edit Mogunt 1559. man doth not properly forgive sin but doth declare and certifie that it is remitted of God so that absolution received from man is as much to say behold my son I certifie thee that thy sins are forgiven thee I declare unto thee that God is at peace with thee which I relate the rather out of him both for his being a writer of the Chutch of Rome and that this passage is purged out of his book by them as erroneous as may be seen by comparing the Edition of Mentz with the Edition at Antwerp 1559 and 1570 Which agrees with that in the Articles of Religion of Ireland num 71. God hath given power to his Ministers not simply to forgive sinnes which prerogative he hath reserved only to himselfe but in his name to declare and pronounce unto such as truly repent and unfeignedly believe his Holy Gospel the absolution and remission of sins But that ye may the more fully understand the Primates Judgement in this point whose authority prevails much with all good men and how remote our Church is from that of the Papists in the use of those words in ordination I shall give you some brief collections out of that Answer of his to the Jesuite Malones challenge concerning this subject and the rather to satisfy the Reader against the injury which among others Doctor Heylene hath done him in this as if
Fathers in the Primitive times which might be here also produced And doubtlesse the councell of Eliphaz is is good Job 8. Enquire I pray thee of the former ages and prepare thy selfe for the search of their Fathers for we are but of yesterday and know nothing shall not they teach thee c. as that of the Prophet Jeremiah cap. 6.19 aske for the old way and walk therein which may well rebuke the presumption of some who are so led by their own fancies that the Ancient Fathers are of no exemplary esteem with them Onely I may safely reprepresent this to the consideration of any ingenuous person that if it were the practice of the Church of God in all ages for 1500 or but 1300 yeares after Christ not only of the vulgar but of such as were glorious Martyrs and the most eminent Preachers of former and later yeares with whom the holy spirit did much abound doth not the assertion of the contrary condemn the generation of the just or at least argue a bold presumptuous censure of the spirits of just men now made perfect in heaven This only by way of preparative to the Readers attention that there is no singularity in it 2. See the warrants for it in the Scripture i. e. in the Old Testament Numb 6.23 the Lord gives a form of words to Aaron and his sons to be continued as a perpetual Liturgy from age to age for the blessing the children of Israel saying unto them the Lord blesse thee and keep thee the Lord make his face to shine upon thee and be gracious unto thee the Lord lift up his countenance upon thee and give thee peace c. Numb 10.35 Moses gives himself a set form at the rising and resting of the Ark. When the Ark set forward Moses said Rise up Lord and let thine enemies be scattered and let them that hate thee flee before thee And when it rested he said return O Lord unto the many thousands of Israel Continued by David at the removall of the Ark in his time Psal 68.1 In the 26. of Deut. ye have two set formes prescribed of God himself First to him that offers his first fruits verse 3. thou shalt say unto the Priest c. verse 5. thou shalt speak and say before the Lord thy God c. consisting chiefly of confession to the 11. verse and then to him that offers his third years tythes verse 13. when after a solemne protestation of bringing all the hollowed things paying his Tythes truly without diminution or alienation he is prescribed to say this prayer before the Lord his God verse 15. Look down from thy holy habitation from heaven and blesse thy people Israel and the Land which thou hast given us as thou swearest c. The book of Psalmes some consisting of Petitions some of Confession some of praises the several parts of prayer what was the end of their composing and collection but as a Liturgy conteining the severall formes framed by the Saints of God in severall ages and accordingly continued and used in the Temple and Synagogues upon severall times and occasions As that for the Sabbath-day in speciall by the Title of it Psal 92. as Moses prayer was preserved for the use of the Church Psal 90. to Davids time so was his and others after the captivity to our Saviours time some were used to begin the service with some to end it some before the reading of the Law and Prophets some between them and before the expositions of either as those who have searched into those customes of theirs tell us Praise is the principall part of prayer and for that how often do you read of Set Forms used by the most eminent Saints Moses after the delivery from Pharaoh at the Red Sea pennes a set form of praise for Myrian Exod. 15 1. unto which that of Rev. 15. relates where the Saints in heaven are said to use that form also at the victory over their enemies they sang the song of Moses 1 Chron. 16.17 Asaph and his Brethren had forms delivered them by David to thank the Lord with verse 35. say ye save us O God of our salvation c. 2 Chron. 7.6 Solomon at the dedication of the Temple observes that form which was observed by his Father praised be the Lord for his mercy endureth for ever at which signifying an acceptance of it the glory of the Lord filled the Temple 2 Chron. 29.30 Hezekiah caused the Priests and Levites to praise God in the words of David and Asaph the Seer No doubt but these worthy reformers Hezekiah and Isaiah were able to have framed prayers and praises of their own and that suddenly as Hezekiah seems to have done at a special occasion in the Temple 1 Kings 19.14 both of them 2 Chron. 32.20 in their private but for the publick setled constitutions they rather chose to use those Formes which were used in the Church many ages before in Davids time see then a respect to Antiquity not only in Doctrine but in the Forms of prayer framed by the Saints before them And surely if it were pleasing unto God then according to the Counsell of the Prophet Hoseah to the Israelites in their repentance cap. 14.2 take to your selves words and say thus unto him why should it not be now he being yesterday and to day and the same for ever Ezra 3.10 The like was observed after the Captivity at the repairing of the Temple when Ezra appointed the Lord to be praised after the Ordinance of David King of Israel So much for the Old Testament Now for the New Testament yee have a President for it which is above all Presidents in our blessed Saviour who gave a form to his disciples Luke 11 1. When ye pray say not only as Matthew 6. say after this manner or say thus but say this In Saint Matthew he gives a form to the people and disciples together which was before he sent them forth to preach for that was not till cap. 10. In Saint Luke he gives his disciples a Form after he had made them preachers and Apostles cap. 9.1 and after the 72 were sent out also cap. 10.1 and both returned from preaching through the Cities of Israel see how both people and Teachers are allowed a set Form and it seems John Baptist had done the like by the ground of their requests Teach us as John taught his disciples They were not then for New and different wayes from the Church before or coaetaneous with them but for a conformity that it might appear John Baptist disciples and they were one Church and one body A good example for us to follow not to ayme at a Singularity or a division between other Churches and us but to draw as near as we can to a Conjunction with them in having one heart and one tongue Seek not wayes never before thought of but tread in the steps of the precedent times as the Disciples did here teach us as John
14. why may not the spirit of a private Minister in these ordinary gifts be limited by the vote and consent of the whole Ministery Secondly see the ill consequences of it It must be appliable against singing of Psalmes in the spirit which Saint Paul puts together with prayer I will pray with the spirit and I will sing with the spirit 1 Cor. 14.5 divers of the Psalmes are prayers now if the set form of words in them be not an obstruction to the making a spiritual melody in your hearts to the Lord why shall it be a stop to the overflowings and enlargements of the heart and spirit in prayer Again it must be of the like force against preaching in rhe spirit that if it be premeditated or the Sermon be before composed it cannot be in the demonstration of the spirit and power nor have any efficacious operation in the hearers which is both against our daily experience and Solomons Commendation of the Preacher meaning it may be himself Eccles 12. because he was wise he gave good heed and sought out fit words and set them in order even words of truth If the spirit was not obstructed in the pens of the Evangelists writing their Gospels or with the Apostles in their several Epistles then notwithstanding both were done with labour and studdy why should our labour accordingly in the word and doctrine by the pen or premeditation exclude it now and if a set form doth not stint the spirit either in singing preaching or writing of holy things why must it be so injurious onely to the spirit of prayer 3. But thirdly if a set form be the stinting of the spirit it must be either in the speaker or hearer 1. Not in the speaker for his spirit may be the more at liberty to spirituall fervent enlargements when there is no obstruction or diversion by the work of the Invention in inditing of matter and words the unaptnesse and unreadinesse unto which in many hath so disturbed them and caused them to wander into such immethodicall impertinet wayes that they have been far from the spirit of prayer 2. Not in the hearers for then it must ever be so stinted for whether the speaker useth sudden or premeditated expressions which they cannot judge of the hearers are alike bound to mind what proceeds from his lips so that if the spirit be stinted with them in the latter it is as much in the former For as the judgment is the freer to say Amen by the fore-knowledge and approbation of the prayer so the spirit and affections are at an equall freedom also so that this objection is of no value I shall onely put this to consideration whether that mans heart may be accounted most spiritual which can be daily enlarged and his affections lifted up in the use of the same words or which cannot without the help of a variety like those weak stomacks or distempered in their health that cannot relish one dish twice but must at each meale have the inventions of men imployed to give them various nay in danger of losing their stomack if they hear of them before they come suddenly before them Now in this I would not be understood to discourage any persons in exercising themselves this way and striving to perfection in this gift which I do much commend only as those that learn to swim have help at first of some supporters but afterward come to swim without them Children at first have their Copies their paper ruled their hands held but in time do it of themselves and so there is an expectation that you that are of ability should grow in knowledge and utterance this way but for the weaker sort is it not better they should use a staffe then slip and are not the Major part of this kind like men with weak sights needing the help of Spectacles To whom by denying them a set Form are we not injurious accordingly Though those we call weak may possibly by their fervency and ardency of affection be said of as Saint Paul of himself when I am weak then am I strong and Gods strength perfected in their weaknesse The prevalency of a prayer being not in the elegancy and loftinesse of the stile but in the sighes and groanes and inward workings of the heart like that of Nehemiah and Hanna though their voice were not heard In a word an Vniformity in the publick prayers of the Church to be observed in each congregation would tend much to the unity of hearts and spirits among us which Saint Paul commends as the more excellent way and the end of coveting all gifts whatsoever viz. a Composure of a Form for the publick service of God by the joynt assistance of the most learned and pious from which the most eminent gifted person might not depart more then the inferiour I speak not of prayer before Sermon and after when each may take their liberty though therein the Dutch and French Church are strict also but of some consent in the manner of Administration of Baptisme the communion and other offices in the publick that might be owned by us all in Common as the form of the Church of England which as it hath been a means to continue a unity in other reformed Churches at this day so I believe would be a means for the reducing it with us even a setled peace both in Church and State which ought to be the prayer and principall endeavour of every good Christian So much for the declaring and confirming the Primates Judgment of the use of a set form of prayer in the publick Now unto his for the more easie reception of it I shall here adde the votes of some whom the contrary minded at least the most pious of them will not gainsay I shall not mention the judgement and practice of the worthy Ministers and Martyrs in Queen Maries dayes some of whom were put to death for approving and using the form which was then extant being one of the (a) Ralph Allerton John Rough. Articles put in against them Of these it will be said they walked according to the light then given them I shall therefore trouble the Reader onely with a few testimonies of godly and eminent men who lived within our own memory some of them reckoned among the Non-conformists or old Puritanes yet in this particular fully concurring with the Primate Mr. Richard Rogers Preacher at Walbersfield in Essex whom I well remember and have often seen his constant attendance at the publick prayers of the Church In his pious book entituled the seven Treatises In that Chapt. of publick prayers He thus beginneth If that mind be in us with the which we have been taught to come to all holy exercises and so to be prepared for them who doubteth but that we may receive much help by them yea and the better a man is the more he shall profit by them c. Some have thought all set forms of prayer are to be
sober Christian as appeareth by the Apostles speech 1 Cor. 11.16 If any man seem to be contentious we have no such custome neither the Churches of God So doth he again presse the example and practice of all the Churches of the Saints 1 Cor. 14.33 3. This is no stinting nor hinderance to the spirit of Prayer in any of Gods people no more then the singing of praise to the Lord in the words of David is now and was in Hezekiahs time 2 Chron. 29.30 or the joining in heart with the words that another uttereth in conceived prayer Thus far Mr. Hildersham Doctor Preston who used a set Form of Prayer before Sermon in that Sermon of his preached before King James Text John 1.16 Of his fulnesse we have all received c. p. 22. saith thus That a set form is lawfull much need not be said the very newnesse of the contrary opinion is enough to shew the vanitie and falshood of it It is contrary to the approved judgement of approved Councells learned Fathers and the continual practice of the Church He instanceth in Tertullians time and Origen Saint Basil Ambrose Constantine the Great prescribed a set form of prayer to his souldiers and Calvine in his 83. Epist to the Protectour of England saith that he doth greatly allow a set form of Ecclesiastical prayer which the Minister shall be bound to observe But as I said before of the lawfulnesse of it there is no Question Object How slight is that which is objected against the lawfulnesse of it to wit That the spirit is stinted when we are fetterd with words appointed I answer The freedome of the spirit stands not so much in the extent of words as in the intention of zeal wherein they are uttered And if a set form be lawfull then must a set form needs excell which is dictated by Christ himself and is therefore more frequently to be used and with all reverence both in mind and gesture nor doth this want the practice and approbation of the Antientest instancing in Saint Cyprian and Saint Augustine c. And for a further confirmation see the same affirmed by him again in his book called the Saints daily exercise set forth and approved by Doctor Sibbs who himself used a set Form of Prayer before Sermon Mr. Davenport p. 80. viz. Another case saith he is Whether we may use a set Forme of Prayer Answ I need not say much to you for I think there is none here that doubts but that a set Form of Prayer may be used you know Christ prescribed a Form you know there were certain Psalmes that were prayers that were used constantly and therefore no doubt but a set Form may be used and in the Church at all times both in Primitive times and all along to the beginning of the Reformed times to Luther and Calvins time still in all times the Church had set Forms they used and I know no objection is of weight One main objection is this That in stinted prayer the spirit is streitned c. To this he gives a threefold answer 1. They that object it do the same thing daily in the congregation whose spirits are limited and stinted by being hearers of him that prayes 2. 'T is no generall tye but at other times in private they may be as free as they will 3. The spirit or affections are not tyed or restrained hy a set form there may be largenesse of the heart though there be a limit of words This is the summe of the answer which the Reader may have more at large there And thus I have given ye the judgement of these four eminent men in their time approved by three other equall with themselves all fully concurring with the Primate in this particular which cannot but prevail much with such as have been or are otherwise minded at this day I adde no more presuming that those that will despise these will set light by any other and so much for this subject concerning a set Form of Prayer Now there are two other things which upon this occasion might not be unseasonable to speak a word of according to the Primates judgement also viz. Of the length or brevity in prayer and of the Gesture at it in both which many of this age have gone astray 1. For the length In the publick all good discretion teacheth ordinarily not to be very large for we speak not now of extraordinary duties in publick Fasts because in a congregation all the Auditours are not of the like strength Some according to that distinction of John 1. Ep. 2.13 14. may be Fathers some young men but others Children fitter for milke then strong meat that a long continuance at prayer may as ill suit with them as putting of a new garment to an old or new wine into old bottles Jacobs speech in answer to his Brother Esau when he would have had him driven on his pace with him Gen. 33.13 I will saith he lead on softly according as the Cattle with young which are with me and the children which are tender shall be able to endure lest if I should over-drive them one day the flock should die may have its Morall application to the prudence of a Pastor this way 'T is very dangerous to cause a fulnesse in the worship of God that for prayer men should be apt to say as those in the Prophet for the Sabbath when will it be done Solomons caveat Eccles 5.2 against rash and hasty utterings and multiplying of words in the house of God and his Councell upon it Let thy words be few are observable much may be spoken in a little and 't is true in this as other matters vis unita fortior There is an excellent Epistle of Saint Augustines concerning this subject Epist 121. Probae viduae that saith he is not a commendation that he was long at prayer there may be much speech but little praying multa loquutio non multa precatio while the affection is lifted up like the hands of Moses so long the party prayes when that is heavie the Act of prayer ceaseth sometimes saith he the work of prayer is rather done gemitibus quà m sermonibus fletu quà m afflatu with sighes then words teares then lips The time when our Saviour is observed to have used a prolixity was in the private then whole nights in prayer and the whole day till even but not in the publick respecting it may be the causes before mentioned So much for the length of it Secondly for the gesture Certainly the most comely is kneeling after the example of David Psal 100. Ezra cap. 9.5 Daniel cap. 6.10 and the pattern of our Saviour Luc. 22.41 he kneeled down and prayed c. whose example Saint Stephen followed Acts 7.6 and Saint Paul Acts 20.36 For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father c. Eph. 3.14 The humility of the soul is principall but that of the body must not be omitted both being bought with