of God Secondly Another sign that this admired fluency and enlargement in Prayer proceeds from meer natural Enthusiasm is this that generally in the beginning of the Prayer they find themselves streighten'd and confin'd both as to the matter and words of it till they have Pray'd on for a while and then they grow more ready and fluent which how it should come to pass I know not supposing the Prayer were inspired unless perhaps the Spirit comes in only in the middle or towards the latter end of their Prayer but leaves them to their own invention in the beginning and what reason there should be for such an imagination I confess I am not able to guess The true account therefore of the matter is this that in the beginning of the Prayer their Spirits are usually dull and sluggish and do not flow and reflow so briskly to their heads and hearts as afterwards when they have been throughly chaft and heated with the labour and exercise of invention by which being excited and awaken'd they naturally raise the drooping fancy and render the invention more copious fluent and easie So that meerly by the Laws of Matter and Motion as plain an account may be given of this extemporary fluency and enlargement of Prayer as of any other natural effect whatsoever and therefore for our Brethren to attribute to the immediate inspiration of the Spirit of God that which hath such apparent signs of its derivation from natural causes is I conceive very unwarrantable By all which I think it 's very evident not only that we have no sign of the continuance of this Gift of Inspiration of Prayer remaining among us but that we have manifest signs of the contrary 4. And lastly That to suppose the continuance of this Gift of Inspiration of Prayer is to suppose more than our Brethren themselves will allow of viz. That their conceiv'd Prayers are infallible and of equal authority with the Word of God For if our Prayers are dictated to us by the Spirit of God they must be as infallible as he whose infinite knowledge cannot suffer him to be deceiv'd and whose infinite veracity will not admit him to deceive and if so then whatsoever he dictates or inspires must be remov'd from all possibility of error or mistake and consequently our Prayers must be so too supposing he inspires the matter and words of them And as they must be infallible in themselves so they must be of equal authority with Scripture for that which gives the Scriptures the authority of the Word of God is their being inspired by the Spirit of God and therefore whatsoever matter or words are so inspired are as much the Word of God as any matter or words in Scripture All Scripture is given saith the Apostle by the Inspiration of God And therefore whatsoever is given by his Inspiration must necessarily be his Word for what those Holy Men of God spake who deliver'd the Scripture they spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost 1 Pet. 1. 21. and therefore what they deliver'd was the Word of God because their Mouths were the Oracles through which God spake if therefore when we Pray we are mov'd as they were by the immediate inspiration of God what we pray must be as much the Word of God as what they spake So that either our Brethren must affirm that their conceiv'd Prayers are of equal authority with Scripture which I am sure no sober Dissenter will presume or deny that they are immediately inspired by the Holy Ghost And thus I have shewn what those extraordinary Operations are which the Scripture attributes to the Spirit in Prayer I proceed in the next place to enquire what the ordinary and standing Operations are which the Scripture attributes to him and which he hath promised to continue to the end of the World Of which I shall give but a very brief account because herein we are all agreed In short therefore the ordinary Operations of the Spirit consist in exciting in us the graces and proper affections of Prayer such as shame and sorrow in the confession of our sins a sense of our need of mercy and a hope of obtaining it in our supplications for pardon resignation to God's will and dependance on his goodness in our Prayers for temporal mercies and deliverances hunger and thirst after righteousness in our Petitions for his grace and assistance and in a word gratitude and love and admiration of God in our Praises and Thanksgivings for Mercy For in these divine and gracious Affections the life and soul of Prayer consists as for the Words and Expressions of it about which our Brethren disagree with us they are of no other account with God than as they signifie to him the graces and affections of our Prayers without which he regards them no more than he doth the whistling of the wind and therefore since these affections are the main of our Prayer and words are nothing in his account in comparison with them can any man be so vain as to imagin that those affections will be ever a whit the less acceptable to him because they are presented in a form of words and not in extemporary Effusions Sure that Father would be very capricious that should deny Bread to his hungry Child meerly because he askt it to day in the same words that he did yesterday and to imagin that God will dislike or reject the good affections of our Prayer meerly because they are every day express'd in the same form is to suppose him a very captious Being and one that is more taken with our words than with our affections the contrary of which he hath given sufficient proof of in this very particular in that whereas he hath withdrawn from us as I have prov'd at large the inspiration of the words of our Prayer and left them to the composure of our own or other mens invention he still continues to inspire us with the affections of Prayer and to excite them to a due activity For to this among other purposes it is that he hath promised to continue his Holy Spirit to us to inable us to address our selves to him with devout and holy affections thus Gal. 4. 6. Because ye are sons God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts crying Abba father that is by kindling devout and filial affections in your souls inabling you to cry to God with all earnestness and assurance as to a kind and merciful Father and hence also we are said to Pray in or by the Holy Ghost Jude 20. it being by him that those good affections are rais'd in us that we offer up to God in our Prayers and therefore we may well be said to Pray by the Spirit because 't is by the Spirit that we are inspired with those holy affections which are the soul of our Prayer and accordingly the Spirit is said to make intercession for us with sighs and groans which are not to
CERTAIN Cases of Conscience RESOLVED Concerning the Lawfulness of Joyning WITH Forms of Prayer IN Publick Worship PART I. VIZ. I. Whether the using of Forms of Prayer doth not stint and limit the Spirit II. Whether the using Publick Forms of Prayer be not a sinful omission of the Ministerial Gift of Prayer III. Whether Praying by a Publick Form doth not deaden the Devotion of Prayer LONDON Printed by Henry Hills Jun. for Fincham Gardiner at the White Horse in Ludgate-street 1683. Books Printed by FINCHAM GARDINER A Continuation and Vindication of the Defence of Dr. Stillingfleets Unreasonableness of Separation in Answer to Mr. Baxter and Mr. Lob c. A Perswasion to Communion with the Church of England A Resolution of some Cases of Conscience which Respect Church-Communion The Case of indifferent things used in the Worship of God Proposed and Stated by considering these Questions c. A Discourse about Edification Considerations of present use considering the Danger Resulting from the Change of our Church-Government The Resolution of this Case of Conscience Whether the Church of England ' s Symbolizing so far as it doth with the Church of Rome makes it Unlawful to hold Communion with the Church of England A Letter to Anonymus in Answer to his Three Letters to Dr. Sherlock about Church-Communion A RESOLUTION OF THE Cases of Conscience Which concern the Use of FORMS of PRAYER ONE of the main Points which our dissenting Brethren insist on to justifie their Separation from our Church is That our Publick Worship is perform'd in a Form of Words of Man's Invention which they conceive is unlawful for hereby say some of them the Holy Spirit who inspires our Prayer is stinted and limited and hereby the Gift of Prayer say others which the Holy Spirit communicates to Ministers to inable them to express the Devotions of their Congregations to God is rendred useless and not only so but even the Devotions of the Congregation too are mightily deaden'd by being continually express'd in the same form of words besides that the wants of Christians being various casual and emergent cannot be so fully represented in a fixt Form as in conceiv'd Prayers which upon the account of their variation in Expressions may be the better extended to the continual variations of Mens cases and circumstances besides all which say they we have no warrant for the use of Forms either in Scripture or pure Antiquity and if we had yet an universal imposition of them can by no means be lawfully compli'd with this according to the best recollection I can make is the sum of what our Brethren urge against the lawfulness of joyning with us in a stated Liturgy or Form of Publick Worship and therefore in order to the satisfying their Consciences in this matter I shall reduce their whole Plea to these following Cases and indeavour a plain and clear resolution of them 1. Whether Praying in a Form of Words doth not stint or limit the Spirit of Prayer 2. Whether the Use of Publick Forms of Prayer be not a sinful neglect of the Ministerial Gift of Prayer 3. Whether the constant Use of the same Form of Prayer doth not very much deaden the Devotion of Prayer 4. Whether the common wants of Christian Congregations may not be better represented in conceiv'd Prayer than in a Form of Prayer 5. Whether there be any warrant for Forms of Prayer either in Scripture or pure Antiquity 6. Whether supposing Forms to be lawful the imposition of them can be lawfully compli'd with Case I. Whether Praying in a Form of Words doth not stint and limit the Spirit of Prayer In order to the resolution of this Case it will be necessary to explain first what it is that the Scripture attributes to the Spirit in Prayer and secondly what is meant by stinting or limiting the Spirit in Prayer 1. What is it that the Scripture attributes to the Spirit in Prayer I answer there are some things attributed to him which were extraordinary and temporary and others that are ordinary fixt and standing The through state and distinguishing of which will very much contribute to the resolution of this present Case and therefore I shall insist more largely upon it First I say there are some things attributed to the Holy Spirit in this matter of Prayer which were extraordinary and temporary and that was the immediate Inspiration of the matter of Prayer together with an ability to express and utter it in known or unknown Languages thus as for the immediate inspiration of the matter of Prayer we read in the Old Testament of Prayers and Praises which upon special occasions were immediately indited by Divine Inspiration for so when Hannah presented her Son to the Lord in Shiloh the Text only saith that she praid and said but the Targum paraphrases it that she praid by the Spirit of Prophesie and accordingly praying and praising by immediate inspiration is frequently call'd prophesying So 1 Sam. 10. 5. The Spirit of the Lord shall come upon thee and thou shall prophesie that is as Expositors generally interpret it thou shalt utter Spiritual Psalms and Hymns by immediate inspiration on the place and to the same purpose is the word used Numb 11. 25. 1 Chron. 25. 1. and accordingly in the New Testament it is said of Zacharias that he was filled with the Holy Ghost and prophesied saying blessed be the Lord God of Israel c. The matter of all which Prayers and Praises together with those in the Book of Psalms and sundry others recorded in Scripture was immediately dictated to those inspir'd persons by the Holy Ghost and deliver'd by them without any recourse to their own invention or consideration though as to the words of them it may be justly question'd whether they were not left to their own composure as it seems very probable the words of all other inspirations were for considering how the inspired persons differ'd in their stile according as they differ'd in their education in their natural parts and intellectual improvements it is very likely they themselves composed and worded their own inspirations the Spirit of God taking care only so to oversee and direct them that their words might not misrepresent their matter and if so how much less reason have we to suppose that the Spirit inspires the words of our Prayers but this I shall not insist on However after that great descent of the Holy Ghost at Pentecost wherein the Gift of Tongues was communicated to enable the first Planters of the Gospel to propagate it through the World it 's certain that not only the Matter of their Prayers but even the very Language too in which they express them was immediately inspired insomuch that they were not only inabled to Pray upon the place in apt and fluent Expressions but also to Pray in Languages which they never understood before and which even then they understood but very imperfectly and also to interpret those Prayers into the vulgar
be uttered Rom. 8. 26. which words are far from asserting the inspiration of the matter and words of our Prayer though they are urg'd by our Brethren for that purpose for as for the matter of Prayer here is not the least hint of the Spirit 's inspiring it for as to that the Christians whom he speaks of were well instructed already by their Christian institution but all that is affirm'd is that the Spirit inabled them to offer up the matter of Prayer to God in a most devout and affectionate manner with sighs and groans that is with earnest and flagrant affections And as for the words of Prayer the Text is so far from implying the inspiration of them that it plainly tells us that those sighs and groans which the Spirit inspired were such as were not to be utter'd or worded And surely to inspire us with affections that are too big for words cannot imply the inspiration of words So that the Spirit 's interceeding for us with sighs and groans that are not to be utter'd can imply no more than his exciting in us the proper affections of Prayer and in this sense he is said in the next Verse to make intercession for the Saints according to the will of God viz. by inabling them to offer up the matter of Prayer to God with such fervent and devout affections as are necessary to render it acceptable to him which is properly to interceed for us for as Christ who is our Advocate in Heaven doth offer up our Prayers to the Father and inforce them with his own intercessions so his Spirit who is our Advocate upon Earth begets in us those affections which render our Prayers prevalent and wings them with fervour and ardency the one pleads with God for us in our own hearts by kindling such desires there as render our Prayers acceptable to him and the other pleads with him for us in Heaven by presenting those desires and soliciting their supply and acceptance And thus you see what that standing and ordinary Operation is which the Scripture attributes to the Spirit in Prayer And now before I proceed to determin the present case I shall only farther inquire what it means by that Phrase of stinting and limiting the Spirit In short therefore to stint or limit the Spirit is a modern Phrase of which there is not the least intimation in Scripture or Antiquity but 't is a term of Art coin'd and invented by our Brethren and appli'd onlyto the present Controversie concerning the lawfulness of Forms of Prayer Which by the way is a plain evidence that this argument against Forms viz. That they stint the Spirit is very new since though Forms of Prayer were used not only in the Scripture Ages as I shall shew hereafter but also in all successive Ages of Christianity yet till very lately we never heard on syllable of stinting or limiting the Spirit by them The meaning of which Phrase is this That by using Forms of Prayer we hinder the Spirit from affording us some assistance in Prayer which otherwise we might reasonably expect from him for so our Brethren explain the Phrase viz. That by confining our selves to a Form of Words we restrain the Spirit from giving us that assistance which he ordinarily vouchsafes in conceiv'd Prayer And now having fully stated the Case the resolution of it will be short and easie It hath been shewn at large that there are two sorts of assistances in Prayer which the Scripture attributes to the Spirit the first extraordinary and temporary viz. the immediate inspiration of the matter and words of Prayer the second ordinary and abiding viz. exciting the devotion and proper affections of Prayer If therefore the Spirit be stinted hinder'd or restrain'd by Forms of Prayer it must be either from inspiring the words and matter or from exciting the affections of Prayer as for the latter to which this Phrase of stinting is never appli'd by our Brethren I shall discourse of it at large in the third Case wherein I shall indeavour to prove that Forms of Prayer are so far from restraining the devotion of it that they very much promote and improve it And as for the former viz. the inspiration of the matter and words of Prayer that I have prov'd was extraordinary and intended only as other miraculous Gifts were for the first propagation of the Gospel and therefore since as to this matter the Spirit hath stinted himself it 's certain that Forms of Prayer cannot stint him for how can that be stinted which is not and if now there be no such thing as immediate inspiration of Prayer how can it be limited by a Form of Prayer In a word if the Spirit of his own accord hath long since withdrawn this Gift of inspiration how can it be now said that he is restrain'd from communicating it by any cause without him Case II. Whether the Use of Publick Forms be not a sinful neglect of the Ministerial Gift of Prayer In order to the resolution of which Case it would be necessary to give a brief state of it according as it is put and urg'd by our Brethren By the Gift of Prayer then they mean an ability to express our minds to God in Prayer or to offer up our desires and affections to him in words befitting the matter of them which ability say they is given by God to his Ministers as a means of publick Prayer and in order to their being the Mouths of their Congregations to God to represent to him the common Cases and Necessities of their People and therefore since God say they hath given us this Gift as a means of publick Devotion and in order to our offering up the Prayers of the People it may be justly question'd whether we may lawfully omit the use of it by using publick Forms of other mens composure Now before I enter into a particular consideration of this Case I shall briefly premise these two things 1. That this Case concerns the Clergy only and not the Laity For suppose that it be unlawful for Ministers to omit the use of their own abilities to express the Devotions of their Congregations what is that to the People are they accountable for their Ministers faults or will God reject their sincere Devotions because the Person that utters them is guilty of a sinful omission if so it will be of dangerous consequence to them to joyn in any publick Prayers at all whether they be Forms or Extemporary they being every whit as accountable for the nonsense impertinence and irreverence of their Ministers in the latter as for their omitting the use of their own abilities in the former if therefore this omission be a sin it is the sin of the Minister as for the People they join'd with him indeed in offering up the matter of Prayer which is contain'd in the Form he pronounces but they join not with him in the omission of the use of his ability that is his own