Expressions by no means agree to St. Paul who was Converted before this being quite contrary to the Nature of a Regenerate Man who is said in other places of this Epistle to be free from Sin and the Servant of Righteousness Rom. 6.18 That the Law of the Spirit of Life in Christ has made me free from the Law of Sin and Death Rom. 8.2 That he has crucified the Flesh with the Affections and Lusts Gal. 5.24 That Sin does not Reign in his mortal Body that he should obey it in the Lusts thereof Rom. 6.12 So that unless we can twist Contradictions we cannot suppose St. Paul to speak of himself in that seventh Chapter but only of a Judaising Christian or a Convinced but not Converted Person and nothing is more usual than for Prophets and Apostles to speak in the Person of others when they say I or We did so or so for we cannot suppose St. Paul and the rest of the Apostles or indeed any sensible Christian so very Ignorant as not to know to whom and thro' whom and for what to Pray and therefore the we know not c. must have respect to other Men and such as were Heathens and Unconverted who had not before heard of Christ or seen the Gospel where there are Rules laid down and those Dictated and written by the Holy Spirit how they and all Men ought to Pray even to our Father which is in Heaven thro' his beloved Son Jesus Christ for such Lawful things as are according to his Will And when Men Pray thus according to that excellent Form which Christ has prescribed his Holy Spirit will also assist them with good Desires so that they shall Heartily wish and long for those things for which they Pray with submission to the Will of God and thus the Spirit helpeth our Infirmities in revealing to us the Holy Scriptures where those that were Ignorant before are taught how to Pray as they ought But our Author goes on with his Paraphrase p. 30.31 The Apostles when they were at best yea when they were assisted with the Holy Ghost yet then they were fain to come off with Sighs and Groans c. Mark here says he they could not so well and fully come off in the manner of performing this Duty as these in our Days think they can But is not this another good Argument for Forms of Prayer when the Apostles themselves stood in need of them and therefore desired Christ to teach them such a Form as John had taught his Disciples Luke 11.1 Lord teach us to Pray as John also taught his Disciples And certainly they had need to be taught such a Form to help them out if they were such Bunglers at Prayer as J. Bunyan represents them viz. That they were not able to make an end of the Prayer they had begun in the Congregation but were forc'd to break off abruptly perhaps in the midst thereof which must needs cause Shame to themselves and Disappointment and Confusion to the whole Assembly which all their Sighs and Groans would never be able to compensate but no Man of Sense can believe the Apostles ever Prayed at this rate in the Church of God where they command all things to be done Decently and in order and to the Edification of the People 1 Cor. 14.26.40 For what Order Decency or Edifying is there in Sighs and Groans which Hypocrites may utter as well as Sincere Christians And when either does it who can tell the meaning of them And may not a Man edifie as much by the Quakers Silent-meetings as by such Sighs and Groans which have no certain and determinate Signification as Words and Speeches have And yet if we may believe Jo. Bunyan these were a good part of the Apostles Prayers even in their publik Assemblies but the Proof which he brings for it is Simple and Ridiculous viz. For the Spirit it self maketh Intercession for us with Groanings which cannot be uttered Whereas these are not the Groanings of the Apostles or of any Man else upon the Face of the Earth but the Groanings of the Holy-Ghost himself in Heaven where together with the Lord Jesus he maketh Intercession for us at the Right-hand of God and that in a very fervent and powerful manner which St. Paul calls his Groanings which cannot be uttered and therefore can never be applyed to the Groanings of Men which are always heard and make a sound in their very utterance So foolish and presumptuous is this Man in Expounding and Applying this Text especially in endeavouring to prove from it that the Holy Spirit does invent and dictate to us the very words of Prayer for here are no Words at all proceeding from the Spirit but only Groanings How then can this place prove that the Spirit suggests to us the Words of our Prayer when he interceeds for us without Words even with Groanings but pray mistake not not with such Groanings as Jo. Bunyan and his Party makes and may be heard in every corner of the House and in the very Streets but with Groanings that cannot be uttered And that these are the inexpressible Desires of Christ and the Spirit of God in Heaven is plain from Rom. 8.27 He that searcheth the Hearts i. e. Almighty God whose Prerogative it is knoweth what is the Mind of the Spirit because he maketh Intercession for the Saints according to the Will of God So that this Text also as all the rest turns upon the Objector and proves that the Spirit does not put Words into their Mouths nor cause those Groanings which are so loud and frequent in their Meetings the Spirits Groanings here being said to be without noise or sound without utterance or expression they are such as cannot be uttered Whence I may well conclude that Jo. Bunyan 's extemporary Prayers his dismal Groans and those Fits and Agonies of the Spirit which he says he was sometimes in when he was strongly perswaded to leave off and to seek the Lord no longer p. 71. I may conclude I say that this is a great Cheat of the Devil and Antichrist by which he does delude and deceive the World by which Men would perswade themselves and others that they Pray with the Spirit that they Preach with the Spirit and Hear with the Spirit even with the same extraordinary Spirit which St. Paul had when there is no such thing but they are rather possessed by an evil Spirit which makes them think and speak so highly and vain-gloriously of themselves and so contemptibly and uncharitably of others their Mouth speaketh great swelling Words having Mens Persons in admiration because of advantage These be they that separate themselves Sensual having not the Spirit Jud. ver 16.19 CHAP. VIII HAving said in the Conclusion of the former Chapter that J. Bunyan and his Party have not the Spirit to which they so much pretend I come now to prove this Charge against them from two substantial Arguments 1st Their Disobedience to their Lawful
Superiours in Church and State The Spirits of the Prophets are Subject to the Prophets 1 Cor. 14.32 And the Spirit of God perswades and commands Men to Obey every Ordinance of Man for the Lord's sake and to be subject to our Civil and Ecclesiastical Governours not only for Wrath but also for Conscience sake Rom. 13.5 1 Pet. 2.13 But these Men by their causeless and sinful Separation from our Church make a Schisme in it as by their frequent resistance of our rightful Kings they have made Rebellions in the State a thing which the Apostles and primitive Christians were never guilty of under the most bloody Persecutions but always abhor'd it as contrary to the good Spirit of God 2dly The base Railing and filthy Language which this Author and his Party do aften bestow upon us a brief account of which I have before given and shall now give an instance or two more of it to fill up the Measure of his Iniquity p. 44. speaking of Men that use Forms of Prayers by which without doubt he marks out us he says They in Person appear as Hypocrites and their Prayers are an abomination when they say they have been pouring out their Souls unto God he saith they have been Howling like Dogs and for this he quotes Hos 7.14 tho 't is plain he here adds to the Word of God there being no mention of Dogs in that place but only of the Children of Ephraims Howling upon their Beds and this bold Man adds thereunto like Dogs to render us more odious in the application But if we should take the same liberty and say that these Men in their Conventicles Groan and Grunt like Hogs and Snarl and Bark like Dogs tho' they cannot Bite and Devour us I believe they would Proclaim us for the most Wicked and Uncharitable People in the World For this very Man on the Score of our slighting his Praying by the Spirit as I think I have sufficiently prov'd we have Reason to do breaks out into this strange and horrid Exclamation Is it not the Mark of implacable Reprobates O fearful Can you not be content to be Damn'd for your Sins against the Law but you must Sin against the Holy Ghost Good God! That we should be accused of the Sin against the Holy Ghost only for Vindicating his Honour and exposing such Men as would father their Nonsense and Blasphemies upon him But in Truth 't is these are the Blasphemers of the Holy Spirit 't is these are the Corahs and Balaams of the Age that Rebel against our Moses and Aaron and Curse God's People to their Face even with bitter Words and venemous Expressions which shews them to be acted by the Instigation of another Spirit even that of Satan and Antichrist who are all for Railing and Reviling but the good Spirit of God is all for mild gentle and charitable Speeches Jud. 9. Michael the Arch-angel when contending with the Devil he Disputed about the Body of Moses durst not bring against him a railing Accusation but said The Lord rebuke thee The good Spirit of God where'er he rests produces kind Thoughts and charitable Expressions both which Jo. Bunyan is a Stranger to as is evident from p. 89. When Men Pray for a shew to be heard and thought some body in Religion there are two sorts of Men that Pray to this end 1st Your Trencher-Chaplains that thrust themselves into great Mens Families pretending the Worship of God when in truth the great Business is their own Bellies which were notably Painted out by Ahab's Prophets 1 K. 18. and also Nebuchadnezzar's Wise-men Dan. 2. who tho' they pretended great Devotion yet their Lusts and their Bellies were the great things aimed at by them in all their peices of Devotion Now can there be a greater Vncharitableness shewn than is couch'd in these few Words Wherein all the Chaplains of great Men without any exception are represented as a Company of gormandizing Epicures that make their Belly their God and to be as bad as Ahab's false Prophets which fed at Jezabel's Table and as bad as Nebuchadnezzar's Magicians who were initiated into the Black-Art and in a solemn League and Covenant with the Devil Good God! That a Man should publish to the World such Base and Scandalous Reflections on some Divines who for ought he knows to the contrary may be as good Christians and pious Persons as any in the Nation But if they call the Master of the House Beelzebub how much more shall they call them of his Houshold Mat. 10.25 May we not with more Truth call this Author a Corner-Chaplain That follows his poor Creatures that are deluded by him into every Corner of the House and there makes them Groan most bitterly or else he could not say as he does p. 73. I know 't is thus with them their Groans go up to Heaven from every Corner of the House I know they do Groan and that most bitterly Of this sort are they that creep into Houses and lead Captive silly Women laden with Sins and that is enough to make them Groan indeed 2 Tim. 3.6 But if this does not please him he must be contented to enjoy the Title of Tinker Chaplain as most agreeable to his old Trade tho' after all for want of Charity he proves to be but as sounding Brass or a tinkling Cymbal CHAP. IX FOR a farther Proof that Jo. Bunyan's Pretences to the Spirit are vain I shall produce his own Words in Evidence against him where he advises Parents not to teach their Children to Pray by any Form no not so much as the Lord's Prayer and then being not of themselves able to Pray extempore they must not Pray at all Evil Council indeed and which never came from the good Spirit of God it is p. 77.78 My Judgment is says he that Men go the wrong Way to learn their Children to Pray in going about so soon to teach them a set company of Words as is the common use of poor Creatures to do For to me it seems to be a better way for People betimes to tell their Children what cursed Creatures they are and how they are under the Wrath of God by reason of original and actual Sin as also to tell them the nature of Gods Wrath and the duration of the Misery which if they conscientiously do they would sooner learn their Children to Pray than they do But tho' this Author gives his Judgment in the Style of St. Paul yet does he shew by it that he has not the Spirit of God as St. Paul had for that Apostle advises Parents thus Ephes 6.4 Ye Fathers provoke not your Children to Wrath and to tell them they are all cursed Creatures in a damnable Condition and obnoxious to Hell torments which shall last for ever one would think were the ready way to provoke them to wrath indeed but St. Paul says provoke them not by any harsh Speeches at all as these certainly are which may sooner drive them
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
in the Holy Scripture for their continual Observation as Psal 116.15 Precious in the Sight of the Lord is the Death of the Saints and 't is the Days of their Death and Martyrdom and not of their Birth which we Commemorate not their first Days in which they were Born into the World but the last Days in which they were Born into an happy Eternity and on these Days we do not only Bless God for those eminent Vertues and Graces which Shone in them but also we desire him to enable us to follow their good Examples that being compassed about with so great a Cloud of Witnesses we may run with Patience the Race that is set before us looking unto Jesus their Captain General who with them has endured the Cross and receiv'd a Crown in Heaven and by this means we do what we can to perpetuate their Memory on Earth as God expects we should Psal 112.6 The Righteous shall be had in everlasting Remembrance And this the Primitive Christians began by first keeping the Day of these Saints Martyrdom at the very Place where they suffer'd and this after Ages follow'd by Celebrating it in all other Places where Christianity was professed and I doubt not but it will be continued in all future Ages even unto the end of the World among all Orthodox Christians CHAP. III. HAving in the former Chapter detected the Sophistry and Fallaciousness of John Bunyans Arguments against Forms of Prayer and shewn how they rather conclude for them and against his Pretences to Pray by the Spirit I shall now proceed to discover the Weakness and Folly of his Answer to that convincing Proof for the Lawfulness of Forms even our Saviour's Command for it Luke 11.2 When ye Pray say our Father c. To this he says p. 80. I cannot think that Christ intended it as a stinted Form of Prayer because he lays it down diversly But how diversly Mat. 6.9 our blessed Lord says After this manner Pray ye Our Father c. the plain import of which is that this ought to be the Pattern by which we shou'd Compose all our Prayers but least his Disciples who had desired their Master to teach them a Form of Prayer as John Baptist had taught his Disciples shou'd think it well enough to have an Eye only to this Pattern in Composing all their Prayers by tho' in the mean time they never made use of this very Form it self therefore in Luke 11.2 our Saviour said unto them When ye Pray say Our Father c. i. e. do not content your selves to Pray after this manner in other Prayers of your own Composing them according to it but also use this very Prayer it self together with your own of the like Nature that putting up your Petitions to Almighty God with a good Heart in Christ's own Words ye may be sure to be heard and let any honest Christian but Read and Compare these two Evangelists together in this Point and I am confident he will acknowledge that Christ must needs intend this Prayer of his should it self be daily used and also the true Standard of all our Devotions and consequently he must needs intend it for a Form or else his Words and Intentions would not agree which is Blasphemy to imagine But out Author answers farther p. 81. We do not find that the Apostles did ever observe this Form as such neither did they admonish others so to do search all their Epistles c. But did not the Apostles do many things which are not written there As St. John says there are also many other things which Jesus did which are not written every one of them in the Gospel Joh. 21.25 For were not all the Apostles Baptized And yet we do not Read in the New Testament of the Baptism of any one of them so the Apostles might and without doubt did make use of the Lords Prayer tho' there be no mention of it in their Epistles otherwise how were they Faithful in keeping Christs Commandments themselves this being one of them When ye Pray say Our Father c. and this doubtless they taught others to use also or else they were not Faithful in executing Christs Commission who at the delivery thereof speaks thus Mat. 28.19.20 Go ye therefore and Proselyte all Nations Baptizing them in the Name of the Father of the Son and of the Holy Ghost teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have Commanded you and this being one thing that Christ had Commanded them when ye Pray say Our Father c. we cannot suppose that they fail'd to teach others to observe this also as well as Baptism or any other Gospel Duty But after all his trifling Answers to this invincible Objection Jo. Bunyan confesseth p. 81. That Christ by these Words Our Father which art in Heaven doth instruct his People what Rules they should observe in their Prayers to God And if it is a Rule for all our Prayers is not this as great a Confinement of the Spirit as the limiting of it to this or any other Form of sound Words This Author p. 75. and those that made the Directory tho' they are Enemies to all Forms of Prayer and therefore abolished our excellent Liturgy yet lay down certain Rules which we must observe in Praying to Almighty God which is indeed to do that thing themselves which they condemn in us and call a Restraining of the Spirit for to dictate to the Spirit the Heads of Prayer which he must insist upon and leave him at liberty only in the choice of Words is every whit as much if not more a restraining of the Spirit than only to appoint the Words and leave him at liberty in the choice of the Sense the Matter of Prayer being more considerable than Words and the Sense more valuable than Language If therefore the Spirit must be left free why do they themselves confine him in imposing on him the Heads of his Prayer As if he needed help for Invention as our * See his excellent Book p. 686. Royal Martyr observed tho' not for expression or as if Matter did not as much stint and obstruct the Spirit as if it were cloathed in and confined to fit Words so slight and easy is the Leger-de-main which will serve to delude the Vulgar And from hence any one may well conclude that these Men instead of being inspired with the Spirit of God are possessed with the Spirit of Pride and Singularity what else is the meaning of their taking away the Book of Common Prayer and yet establishing a Directory in its room which is as much a restraining of the Spirit as the other What else is the meaning of that Passage in the entrance of the Directory p. 5 Let all enter the Assembly not irreverently but in a grave and seemly manner taking their Seats or Places without Adoration or Bowing themselves towards one Place or other But that because when we enter the Church the Place of
Gods gracious and more immediate Presence we solemnly Worship God by Bowing our Bodies and Knees before him therefore the Dissenters when they enter the Church will not Worship God at all being required by the Directory to take their Seats without Adoration tho' herein they act contrary to David who says Psal 95.6 O come let us Worship and Bow down let us Kneel before the Lord our Maker They act contrary to St. Paul's Converts of whom he says That coming into the Church they will fall down on their Face and Worship God 1 Cor. 14.25 They act contrary to those Pious Souls that came to Christ to obtain a Cure for themselves or Friends who did not approach or address themselves to him without a solemn act of Adoration they always first Worshiped him by Kneeling Bowing or Prostrating their Bodies before him as you may see Mat. 17.14 Mar. 5.22 Luk. 5.12 And if those good People paid Christ's Corporeal Presence so much Reverence in the Days of his Humiliation certainly we ought not to give his Spiritual Presence less Honour in his Exaltation since he is now advanced to the Right-hand of God but when we approach him should Worship him with our Bodies as well as Souls but the Directory in opposition to the Practice of these Holy Men Commands the People to enter the Assembly where they suppose Christ Spiritually present or else What make they there without Adoration or Bowing their Bodies towards one Place or other and consequently they must not Bow their Bodies or Knees to Adore God at all for if they do so it must be towards some Place it being impossible to Worship God with our Bodies without it But to return from the Presbyterian Directory whither I have a little digressed presuming it would be a Pardonable Digression to our Anabaptistical Director of Spiritual Prayer John Bunyan p. 45. 46. he affirms That none but such as are Regenerate can truly with allowance say Our Father c. and yet even these must go no farther nor venture to say out the Lords Prayer because it is a Form and to use any such Forms is as bad as setting up and Worshipping Jeroboams Calves which was downright Idolatry and p. 110. What is this says he less than that accursed Abomination of Jeroboam which kept many from going to Jerusalem the Place and Way of Gods appointment to Worship But if this be less than Blaspemy I know not what can be called by that Name for if the use of godly Forms of Prayer not excepting the Lords Prayer it self be as abominable Idolatry as Jeroboam's Calves then our Lord in commanding us when we Pray to say Our Father which art in Heaven c. must Command the Practice of Idolatry which is to Charge God not only Foolishly but Presumptuously and in so doing to fall himself into Jeroboams great Sin in devising another way of Praying than that revealed in the Word of God and in slighting and despising that Form of Prayer which Christ has given us a Practice which we justly detest and abhor and therefore in our Morning and Evening Service we always use the Lords Prayer and all our other Prayers are Composed according to this divine and admirable Pattern and Mr. Baxter whose Authority may have great Influence on the Presbyterians if it should have little on John Bunyan and his Party was so much for the use of the Lord's Prayer that I am credibly inform'd he constantly concluded his own with it and on his Death-bed earnestly * See Mr. Baxters Funeral Sermon by Dr. Bates Recommended the like Practice to all his Dissenting Brethren and wondred that any of them should lay aside the Lord's Prayer assuring them he always found much Comfort in the use of it and his Heart raised and lifted Heaven-wards in the frequent Repetition thereof which I mention on purpose to silence the Clamours of these Men against our Church for using the Lord's Prayer twice and sometimes more in our daily Devotions for why may not our People receive as much Spiritual Comfort as Mr. Baxter says he did in such Repetitions And can a good thing be repeated too often They say it cannot when they require their Followers to attend the Repetition of their Sermons and I presume they dare not say that the very best of their Discourses are so good as the Lord's Prayer or that the Words of uninspired Men are equal to the Words of Jesus Christ besides the Lord's Prayer being delivered by the two Evangelists with some little Alteration the one reciting the Doxology the other omitting it therefore also we repeat this Prayer once with and once without it in the one ending thus Deliver us from evil Amen as St. Luke Chap. 11.4 and in the other thus for thine is the Kingdom and the Power and the Glory for ever and ever Amen Our Church enjoyning all its Members to make use of both Forms that none may fail to comply with our Lords Commands who requires us to Pray thus and after this manner and this I think is enough to satisfie the Scruples of any reasonable Person that may be offended with the Repetition of the Lords Prayer in our Churches Liturgy But if Jo. Bunyan cannot disswade Christians from using the Lords Prayer and 't will be hard to do so so long as they find it in their Bibles he invents such shifts to limit and confine this Divine Form that he will allow none but Saints i. e. such as himself and his own Party to use it tho' I believe few have ever heard it from their Teachers and sometimes he will not permit the Saints themselves to make use of it as p. 41. I tell you says he however Hypocrites may think yet the Christian that is so indeed and that surely must be one of the Saints finds all the difficulty in this very thing he cannot say God is his Father But certainly the Author of the Pilgrims Progress had here forgotten the Parable of the Prodigal Son who before he was a Saint and a great way off from God and in the far Country of Sin whither he had fled from him he said I will arise and go to my Father and will say unto him Father I have sinned against Heaven and before thee and am no more worthy to be called thy Son Luke 15.13 18.20 But had Jo. Bunyan heard this Prayer he would have School'd him thus Thou Poor Blind Prodigal Sot thy great Prayer is to say Father I have sinned against Heaven and before thee Dost thou know the meaning of the first Word of this Prayer Canst thou indeed with the rest of the Saints cry Abba Father Art thou truely Born again Hast thou receiv'd the Spirit of Adoption Dost thou see thy self in Christ And canst thou come to God as a Member of him Or art thou ignorant of these things and yet darest say Father Is not the Devil thy Father And dost thou not do the Deeds of the Flesh Hast
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
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