attend to two or more things at once these may serve to prevent those distractions which among other things are occasioned by the study of words it may hinder the rovings and wandrings of the fancy and help to keep the Mind more intent upon the main work and business of Prayer and one would think Sir that the natural and pious tendency of this notion to so good an end might have deserved a little favour and not have suffered you to have fallen so unmercifully upon so harmless and useful a thing Whereas on the other hand the placing the Gift of Prayer in a faculty of using new words and varied phrases may be a means to draw off the Soul from minding the Duty and set it a listning to the fineness and fluency of the words and this can serve only to gratifie itching Ears and to feed a Worm of Curiosity which sends many a gadding up and down to find out the finest words and loudest voice and the most melting Tone And this you know has occasioned a very great giddiness and instability in Religion Now here again it might be reasonably expected that what hath been known to produce such bad effects might have been a little suspected and that you would not so mightily triumph and glory in so dangerous a Notion And now my hand is in give me leave to tell you some of the many mischiefs that have proceeded from this verbal Gift of Prayer First Some have either willingly or weakly mistaken this for that extraordinary or supernatural Gift of Prayer that was granted to the Apostles and finding sometimes their Fancy heated by the fluency and sound of words have thought themselves divinely inspired Hence it is they talk so much of praying by the Spirit as if they felt the Holy Ghost working and speaking within them immediately dictating both the matter and words of their Prayers to them by which means they father upon the Holy Ghost all the hasty and fond productions of their own Brain Secondly This hath led many into a Contempt of all Godly Forms as dead things and made them place all the life and efficacy of Prayer in this pretended Gift by which means they are brought to cast off all regular and sober Devotion and turn their Religion into spiritual Phrenzy and Enthusiasm Thirdly This often proves an occasion of great Pride for many have been puffed up with a vain conceit of this Gift and finding others struck with an admiration of their parts easily come to admire and fall in Love with themselves and think that God as well as Man is delighted to hear them talk Hence they grow refractory and disobedient to their Superiours and think their enjoyning any thing in Publick Worship though merely for Decency and Order a disparagement to their Abilities and not fit to be laid on Persons of their interest and familiarity with God Fourthly and Lastly This Gift has proved a great instrument of Division and is at this day the greatest Idol and Support of all our Sectaries amongst whom he that pleases and excels in this Gift shall be sure to have most Followers An instance of this I think you find at home where the Leader of another Conventicle begins to draw from yours and surely Sir 't is time to look about you for if his Tongue runs nimbler than yours your Disciples may be apt to leave you in the Lurch and run after him or if his Voice be more Charming or his Tone more Taking you are lost that way too In short when Men leave the well composed Devotion of an established Church they have nothing to fix them which makes them stagger and reel like a drunken Man running from one Sect to another till they have run themselves out of all Religion and settled at last in downright Atheism and Infidelity Of this too many sad Instances may be given I could tell you Sir of other direful effects of their mistaken Notion of the Gift of Prayer but I am loth to be tedious I am SIR Your humble Servant M. H. March 19. 1696. LETTER III. To J. M. SIR I Received yours of the 20th Instant which for the most part is just as I feraed a downright running away as any that had Eyes in his Head might have easily seen And to make you sensible of it I must again tell you what we are about and then shew you how far you are gone from it The Question then between us is concerning the Gift of Prayer sc Whether it consists in an Ability of Expressions or in the pious Motions and Elevations of the Heart Now though I gave you a strict charge to keep close to this and repeated it over and over again lest you should forget it yet First In the very beginning of your Letter you are gone from thence into Devonshire and tell me how the Catchpoles laid in wait and pursued those that haunted Conventicles and is not this a plain Excursion Within a few Lines of this I find you running after Bishop Ken to let him know that you did not call him Bishop and then give the reason for it too because he hath no Diocess but yet because he once had one and there may be some good in him you are content that he should be called the late Bishop And is not this a pretty Excursion think you and very much to the Gift of Prayer Immediately on this you are running to the present Bishop to acquaint him that he is no Intruder but that the Diocess is his whatever persons may say or think to the contrary Admirable close to the point Presently on this you are running into France to tell King James to his Face that he can only be call'd the late King but none must think or call him King now for the Judges have given their Opinion say you that 't is Criminal to give him that Title Is not this wonderful pertinent or rather is it not an Excursion with a witness Shortly hereupon you put the Question whether a Conventicle be an illegal Assembly This I suppose you take to be more home to the Gift of Prayer because it speaks up for the Place where this Talent is vented But is there no difference think you between what is Established and what is only wink'd at and suffered to go unpunished If you will needs have an answer your breaking the Bond of Peace and Unity by Conventicles is near about as lawful as breaking the Bond of Wedlock by Adultery and if either be permitted 't is just as Moses's Bill of Divorce not for the goodness of the thing but for the hardness of Mens Hearts After this you tell me that to the Catalogue of Bishops that lie under your Censure you can add more and there is no doubt of this though I thought I had made your Authority and Censures wide enough when I extended it to all other Bishops But still you see how admirably you speak to the purpose Soon after this you tell
and to say with Grotius That our Lord did not command the recital of the Words nor tie up his Followers to Words and Syllables Pray Sir be not too obstinate Let the Ancient Fathers and Assembly of Divines have some small Sway with you Do but think Sir that 't is possible for you to be mistaken and consider what an Unreasonable piece of Confidence and Presumption it is to oppose the General Sense of the Christian Church in all Ages And if you could be perswaded to this ordinary piece of Modesty and Self-denyal there might be yet some hopes of your Conviction Your second Request is to explain to you the Meaning of the extraordinary Gift of Praying by Inspiration about which you have some Exceptions which shall be answered in my next I am SIR Your affectionate Friend and Wellwisher M. H. May 25. 1697. LETTER XV. To J. M. SIR HAving in my last given you I hope some Satisfaction about the Apostles using the Lord's Prayer according to their Master's Command and Direction I proceed now to give you some Account of that Extraordinary Gift of Praying by Inspiration that was granted to them which you desire may be explained to you To which end you may observe 1 That when St. John the Herald and Harbinger of our Saviour Proclaimed him to the World he declared of him Mat. 3 1◠that he should Baptize his Disciples with the Holy Ghost meaning that the Holy Spirit should come down visibly upon some of them to assure them of the Truth of his Doctrine and to enable them to Preach and Propagate it to the whole World 2 In the next place you may observe that when our Blessed Saviour first called and gathered his Twelve Apostles among other things for their Encouragement he bid them To take no thought before-hand what they should Speak Mark 13.11 nor to Premeditate for it should be given them in that hour what they should Speak for it is not ye that Speak saith he but the Spirit of my Father that Speaketh in you meaning That they should find that assistance from a Divine Spirit that should help them far better in the Work they were called to than any Fore-thought or Premeditation of their own could do for the Spirit of God should Speak in and through them 3 Again Christ a little before his Ascension into Heaven promis'd to send them the Holy Ghost to be their Paraclete Joh. 14.16 17. ◠Joh. 2.1 which Word signifies not only a Comforter to comfort them in his absence but an Advocate to plead their Cause by teaching them to pray and forming their Petitions for them Now upon the day of Penticost which is our Whit-sunday the Spirit according to Christ's most Gracious Promise was poured out upon them the Holy Ghost coming down on the Apostles in the Sound of a mighty Rushing Wind as a Token of Inspiration and sate upon their Heads in the Appearance of Fire to represent those pious Ardours or Fervency of Spirit that should accompany their Devotion And likewise in the shape of Cloven Tongues to signifie that diversity of languages with which they were endow'd By this Descent of the Holy Ghost the Apostles were furnished with a great Variety of Spiritual Gifts many of which are mentioned by St. Paul in sundry parts of his Epistles Among these as St. Chrysostom tells us Chrys on Rom 8 26. was a Gift of Prayer 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 For the Spirit Zach. 12.10 that was promised to be poured out is by the Prophet Zachary stiled a Spirit of Grace and Supplications And St. Paul tells us Rom. 8.26 That this Spirit helped their Infirmities in Prayer For God saith that Father then gave Gifts which are also called Spirits particularly mentioning this Gift or Spirit of Prayer and he that had it saith he pray'd for the whole Multitude By which it appears that the Publick Offices of the Church were in those Days performed by these extraordinary Gifts the Holy Ghost inspiring into them both the Matter and Words of their Prayers without any help or recourse to their own Invention And this Gift was generally accompanied with the Gift of Tongues whereby the Apostles who were before but ignorant Fisher-men and Mechanicks and scarce understood their own Mother-tongue were by this means enabled to pray in the Languages of all Nations and declare to each of them the wonderful Works of God for so we read Acts 2.4 that the Apostles were filled with the Holy Ghost and began to speak with Tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance This the Men of all Nations who were then present at Jerusalem saw and heard to their great amazement for they marvelled to hear these Illiterate Galilaeans speak to Men of all Countries in their own Tongues And without any previous Learning or Meditation pray fluently in Languages they never heard or understood before And this Gift was likewise attended with the Interpretation of Tongues by which these Apostles were able to interpret in their own Vulgar Language those Prayers which themselves or others had uttered in an unknown Tongue Of this we read at large 1 Cor. 14. Now the design of these Supernatural and extraordinary Gifts was chiefly for the Confirmation and Propagation of the Gospel for so we read that Tongues were a Sign 1 Cor. 14.22 not to them that believed but to them that believed not meaning that these Divine Impulses and Inspirations were intended for the converting of Unbelievers and propagating the Faith of Christ And therefore to attest the Divinity of them they were frequently attended with the Gifts of Healing and Miracles For the Apostles did not only pray for the Sick but healed them too of all manner of Diseases with a word 's Speaking And by many miraculuos Signs and Tokens convinced the World that they were not only sent from God but that what they delivered were the immediate Dictates of his Holy Spirit Now these Extraordinary and Miraculous Gifts were peculiar only to the first Ages of Christianity and were calculated for those Times when the Christian Faith needed Confirmation by the Demonstration of the Spirit and Power for the Christian Religion being then new and forc'd to struggle with the Opposition both of Jew and Gentile These extraordinary Assistances were necessary to overcome the Prejudices of both and thereby to convert some and confirm others in the belief of it But when these had obtained their Effects by the spreading and success of the Gospel which prevailed every where And when the Spirit of God had Dictated and Finished the Holy Scriptures in which are sufficiently contained the Rules and Directions both for the matter and manner of our Prayers Then began this Extraordinary Gift by degrees to cease and the Duty of Prayer to be left to that Ordinary way and means in which it continues to this Day when by the Help of pious and publick Forms composed by the Church for publick Worship and
the Praise of the whole Earth you would do well to remove into that blessed Countrey where there is no Liturgy to dull your Devotion but Free Prayer enough to serve for all Emergencies and nothing but the Voice of Joy Peace and Unity can sound in your Ears But you would have me Petition our Governours for removing the Occasions of our Divisions which you say are Declarations and Subscriptions that you may continue here with much more comfort Sir I have learnt more Manners than to direct and prescribe to my Governours who have a further prospect and deeper Insight into these matters than 't is fit for me to pretend to But it s a piece of your wonted Modesty to set up your vain Opinion above the Wisdom and Authority of your Superiours And you are resolv'd to be out of humour if they order matters otherwise than you would have them If you would but root out this piece of spiritual Pride and learn so much Humility as to suspect your own Judgment which God knows and any Wise Man may see is weak enough you would soon find there were no need or occasion for such a Petition But you have one Fetch more against enjoining of Forms that must not be past by and that is this viz. The Magistrate thinks these things to be but indifferent whereas many of us judge them to be Unlawful And therefore we are to be born with and his Judgment to be laid aside An excellent way indeed to set up your selves above your Superiours and to obey only what you please for 't is but for you to say or think any thing they Command to be Unlawful and then you have an Excuse or Dispensation from all Obedience to it Is not this an easier way than that of Corban to evacuate the Law and make void the Commandments both of God and Man But how come any among you to judge Forms of Prayer Unlawful which have ever been used in the Church from the beginning of Christianity to this Day If you have led any into this Mistake your Duty is to undeceive them and lead them out of it and not to desire that such weak or rather wilful persons should be humoured in such Fooleries As for things plainly forbidden by the Law of God I hope we may so far trust to the Care and Integrity of our Governours as not to fear the enjoining of them Or if they should you have a good Dispensation from obeying them But for Matters judged to be good and profitable to the Publick as the use of Forms against which some may have a few Scruples and Prejudices here I hope the Wisdom and Authority of Government may turn the Scale and the certain Duty of Obedience ought to weigh down an uncertain Scruple Sir I have no time or room left to consider your fine Similies of the Spectacles and Crutches at present but you shall not fail of it in my next I am SIR Your affectionate Friend and Servant M. H. April 29. 1697. LETTER XI To J. M. SIR I Observ'd in my last that tho' you can pretty well digest Forms of Prayer yet 't is the Injunction of them that sticks in your Stomach But I hope what I farther observ'd concerning the Just Authority of Superiours to command and the necessary Duty of Subjects to obey in a matter so lawful and expedient too may help to make it go down a little better However against the Imposing of them you go on to tell me that Forms of Prayer were at first brought in and intended only as Helps of Impotence and Insufficiency and to confine Men still to them is to necessitate them to a continual Impotence You own them to be excellent and useful Things in the Times of Ignorance and Darkness but now there is such a Meridiam Light that shines about us there can be no other use of them than to send us back again or keep us in the former Darkness for Christ and his Apostles say you never enjoyned these things and to Impose them now under the Gospel is no better than to force Spectacles upon good Eyes and Crutches upon able Legs Now to set these things in their true Light I shall readily grant you 1. that Forms of Prayer are Helps of Impotence and Insufficiency but they are such Helps as have been necessary ever since the days of Inspiration and will be so to the end of the World For there is a natural Impotence in all Men as to the Great Duties of Religion and more especially to this of Prayer And therefore all possible Helps are to be used to aid and assist us in the due performance of it Under the old Testament God Almighty appointed many Forms of Prayer Praises and Blessing the People and the Jewish Service consisted of these together with the Psalms of David and other Occasional Prayers composed by their Learned Doctors And these were the Helps for their Impotence under the Legal Dispensation Under the Gospel we find Forms of Prayers compos'd and prescrib'd to help the Impotence of Christians under that Dispensation St. John the Baptist the first Gospel Preacher taught his Disciples to Pray Luk. 11.1 2. which could not be Praying by the Spirit for none but the Holy Ghost could teach that but he composed and taught them a Form of Prayer After which the Disciples of Christ came to him and beg'd him to teach them to Pray as John taught his Disciples and he instantly gave them a Form of Prayer and this was done to help the Impotence and Insufficiency of both for we find the Apostles acknowledging that they knew not what to Pray for as they ought and that they were not sufficient of themselves to think a good thought And because the whole Oeconomy of the Jewish Worship was then to be abolished and a more Spiritual and Christian way of Worship to be set up in its room there was granted to them for a while an extraordinary Gift of Praying by Inspiration for the setling and propagating of it And when that was done this extraordinary Gift ceased and Publick Prayers were compos'd according to it And this hath continued in the Christian Church ever since So that as Necessity at first brought in Forms of Prayer to help Mens natural Impotence and Insufficiency for this Duty so there now is and ever will be the same necessity to continue them 2. But Secondly 'T is a Mistake Sir to affirm that they were brought in and intended only for Helps of Insufficiency for there were other wise and great Ends in it namely when Christianity multipyed to preserve Order and Unity and to prevent Schisms and Divisions in the Church And likewise that all Men may be acquainted with what they offer up unto God in Publick Worship without which they cannot agree in their Petitions nor Pray as we are bid with one Heart and one Consent But Christ and his Apostles say you never enjoyned Forms of Prayer I would not have
other Godly Forms of our Own and Others composing for Private Devotion we are sufficiently assisted to put up acceptable Prayers unto God without the help of Inspiration This is Sir a brief Account of the Nature and Use of this Extraordinary Gift of Praying by Inspiration together with the Time and Reason of its expiration But you ask me Where this Extraordinary Gift is called Praying by the Spirit 1 Cor. 14.15 In Answer to which tho' St. Paul's 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 be as you say translated praying With the Spirit yet it may as well be rendred praying By the Spirit there being no Particle to determine it more to the one than to the other and both the Nature of the Gift and St. Paul's Discourse about it seems to lead rather to this than that But however tho' it be not so call'd in Scripture to which I never restrained it yet I presume you have often heard Praying by the immediate Dictates and Inspirations of the Holy Ghost for Brevity's sake called Praying by the Spirit Yea I doubt not but you have heard Praying by Extempore-Effusions called by that Name which hath led many a well meaning Man into great Mistakes about it For tho you may be wise enough to know that this Extraordinary Gift is ceased and so pretend not to immediate Inspirations yet there are many other Sectaries that are not arrived to this but imagine the fond and sudden Suggestions of their own Fancys in Prayer as much the Dictates of the Holy Ghost as any the Inspirations of the Apostles And there are too many Designing Men who for their own Ends are willing enough to have them think so And therefore you would do well Sir to undeceive as many as you can and to rectifie their Mistakes in this Matter But you would have me tell you why could not the Apostles and Disciples of Christ pray without Inspiration when they had the Old Testament and some of the New together with the Lord's Prayer for their Direction The reason of this Sir is plain because our Saviour made choice of the most Ignorant and Illiterate Persons for his Disciples and Apostles that his Institution might appear wholly Divine and not carried on by the help or mixture of Humane Wisdom You know Christ's Followers consisted not of the Scribes and Pharisees and other Learned Rabbies who where well vers'd in the Law for these would not believe on him Joh. 7.48 Mat. 4.21 22 but of a Company of Fishermen and Mechanicks that knew little or nothing of the Law and less of any other Learning And these certainly had great need of Inspiration before they could say or do any thing in the Work they were called to And therefore Christ first gave them his Own Prayer which they used and kept to till he sent them his Holy Spirit to assist them with farther Inspirations and Gifts of the Holy Ghost But how did they pray in the mean time had they no other Publick Prayers or Service but the Lord's Prayer Yes there was the Jewish Service which consisted of many Forms of Prayer and Blessings appointed by God Almighty besides the Psalms of David and the Law of Moses which were daily read in the Temple and the Synagogues and resorted to for some time by our Saviour and his Apostles Besides which Christ frequently pray'd with and for them and daily Instructed them in the Mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven But you ask when this Extraordinary Gift was vouchsafed to the Apostles and Others was there no Ordinary Gift of Prayer Or if there were What was it Sir I see no great need of your Ordinary Gift of Prayer for publick Worship when the Publick Offices of Religion were perform'd by the Immediate Dictates and Inspirations of the Holy Ghost but if there were any Ordinary Gift I suppose it was that of Composing Pious Forms of Prayer for the common use of Christian Converts for we find St. Paul ordering Timothy That Prayers and Supplications and Intercessions and Giving of Thanks be made for all Men for Kings and all that are in Authority 1 Tim. 2.1 2 3. which is supposed by Learned Men to be a Direction given to Timothy for the Composing some pious Forms for the use of those Christians that were committed to his Charge And that they should be so full and comprehensive as to take in all parts of Prayer and extend to all sorts of Persons But for your Ordinary Gift of Praying Extempore or by sudden Conceptions there is not the least Foot-step of it either in the Holy Scriptures or in any History of the Primitive Times I hope this may serve to clear up some of those obscure and confused Notions you seem to have of this Gift Which is heartily wished by Your affectionate Friend and Servant M. H. May 28. 1697. Your next Quere is whether those inspired Persons who were best able have left any publick Prayers for future Generations And who are those uninspired Persons who have now Commission to do so which shall be answered in my next LETTER XVI To J. M. SIR I gave you an Account in my last of that Extraordinary Gift of Praying by Inspiration granted to the Apostles and some other of the Primitive Christians together with the Reasons both of the Conferring and the Ceasing of it Your next Quere is How the Publick Service of the Church was celebrated upon and after the ceasing of Inspiration The Answer whereunto will lead me to consider the Antiquity of Liturgies and to shew the antient and constant Use of them from the Days of the Apostles to the present time But 1. You ask me where those Inspired Persons who were best able have made or left any Publick Prayers upon the compleating of the Sacred Canon Now Sir You must know that the knowledge of this being matter of Fact and at such a distance too can no otherwise come to us but by Tradition and the Testimony of able and competent Witnesses who have recorded and conveigh'd it down thro' every Age. And if you will take their words they tell us that about the latter end of the Apostles Days when the Christian Church began to be settled St. Peter who was the first Bishop of Rome compos'd a Liturgy for the use of those whom he had converted to the Faith and that St. James the first Bishop of Jerusalem did the like for those committed to his Charge And that the same was done by St. Mark for his Charge at Alexandria Which Liturgies are all extant at this Day and tho' as may easily be supposed of things of that nature they have undergone some Alterations in so long a Tract of Time yet they are by Learned Men thought to be for the most part the Genuine Works of those Apostles And your Friend Mr. Beza plainly intimates so much for he saith 1 Cor. 11.34 Quae ad ordinem spectant ut Precum Formulae et caetera ejusmodi disposuit Apostolus in
the point are they so or not If they are so that is words not penn'd but pour'd out of a sudden then the Reproach will lie upon such as use them and not upon those that call them by that name In your Prayers then either the Matter and Words are well digested considered and compos'd before-hand and then 't is a Form of Prayer or else they are left to such sudden Conceptions and Expressions as their Fancy suggests upon the place and then they are no better nor no worse than Extempore Effusions if there be a Medium betwixt these two pray let me know it and you shall have your own term But you do not like the word Extemporary because it implies such an hastiness or rashness of expression Eccl. 5.2 as Solomon forbids in our Addresses unto God and indeed so it does And I heartily wish you would as much abhor the Thing as you do the Name and then there might be some hopes in time of having such Prayers from you as are fit for Wise Men to hear and Good Men to join in But you would have it called by the name of Conceived Prayer or Conceiving of Prayer with all my Heart if that will please you tho' you must own it a preposterous course to Conceive and bring forth together and that great care should be taken to prevent Abortion in publick Congregations But I perceive by a Paper that I receiv'd this day that the term of Free Prayer seems to carry it from all the rest by which I suppose you mean a freedom of your own Conceptions and Expressions in Prayer without being bound up to any Form of Prayer of your own or others Composing and so it comes all to one and I am content to let it pass under that Name for this being only a dispute about Words I am not willing to differ about it Secondly Another thing you complain of in my Sermon which is a great grievance is my disparaging the Gift of Prayer as a thing not to be coveted a very bad thing indeed if it were true but how is it prov'd Why thus I disparage the Gift of Extemporary Effusions which I say is not the Gift of Prayer therefore I desparage the first Gift of Prayer Most profound reasoning And yet this is all the proof that can be gather'd from thence for your Assertion and by this way of Arguing you may prove any thing or nothing as you shall see occasion But I suppose you take the Gift of Prayer to consist in the change and novelty of words or a faculty of talking to God every day in new and varied Phrases Now this is that I expos'd and think it justly deserves it too as you shall sind more at large when I know your mind about it In the mean time I recommend to you a Book Entitled The Scotch Presbyterian Eloquence where you may sind the admirable Elegancy and Rarity of such Prayers as they were taken in Short-hand from the most celebrated Preachers in Scotland Whereas the Gift of Prayer rightly understood lies principally in the Heart and consists not in pouring out many and new Words but in pouring out the Soul unto God and lifting up the Heart to him and this I am so far from disparaging that I esteem it a highly valuable and desirable Gift Now because the Hinge of the Controversie between us is like to turn upon this Point I will try for once whether it be possible to prevent Excursions and to keep you close to it and to that end I will first propound the Matter in Debate between us and then give you some Arguments to confirm my Sense and Opinion about it The Question then is Whether the Gift of Prayer doth properly consist in a Faculty of varying Phrases and expressing our selves to God in our own Words or Whether it consists in the pious Motions and good Affections of the Heart Your Papers run plainly on the former and my Sermon affirms the latter Here then we are to engage and enter the Lists and I warn you once more beforehand to keep close for I shall look on all Excursions as a down-right running away which you know is the Loss of a Battel First then I shall prove to you That the â—ift of Prayer consists not in Words or Expressions and much less in the Change and Variety of them which I shall do by this Argument If neither Words in general nor our own Words in particular are absolutely necessary and essential to the Duty of Prayer then the Gift of Prayer cannot be said to consist in them But neither Words in general nor our own Words in particular are absolutely necessary and essential to the Duty of Prayer Therefore the Gift of it cannot consist in them The major is evident because the Gift or Faculty of doing any thing is necessary to the actual doing and performing of it and therefore if Words are not necessary to Prayer the Gift of Praying cannot consist in them The minor consists of two Parts viz. that neither Words in general nor our own Words in particular are necessary and essential to the Duty of Prayer both which I prove thus If Prayer may be acceptably performed without the use of any Words and likewise without the use of our own Words then neither of them are absolutely necessary and essential to the Duty of Prayer But Prayer c. That both these are true we have plain Evidence and Examples in Holy Scripture 1 Sam. 1.13 for Hannah prayed in her Heart when her Voice was not heard and all that speak of mental Prayer which is the Soul 's sighing out its Desires unto God own that the Duty may be performed by the inward Motions and Operations of the Mind without the use of the Voice or uttering any thing with the Tongue The Prophet Zachary describes the Spirit of Grace and Supplications Zech. 12.10 by looking upon him whom they have pierced and mourning over him which imports the inward Compunction of the Soul but hath no relation to Words and outward Expressions And S. Paul sets forth the Assistance which the Spirit of God gives in Prayer not by helping us to utter and express any thing with the Tongue Rom. 8.26 but by sighs and groans that cannot be uttered So that Prayer may be performed without any Words and that it may be without our own Words is evident by the Experience of many good Christians who daily serve God in the use of Forms which are not their own but the Words of others so that neither Words in general nor our own in particular are absolutely necessary or essential to the Duty of Prayer and consequently the Gift of Prayer cannot be properly said to consist in them which was the thing to be proved SIR I am forced to break off here intending God willing to give you a farther Account of this Matter in my next in the mean time when you have chew'd the Cud upon this
offer shall be fairly heard in due time yet that time is not yet come For though in Divine Revelations Authority may go before Reason because we are to believe what God saith though it may seem without above or against Reason yet in Humane Testimonies Reason is to go before Authority Because we are not to believe any Man without shewing good Reason for what he saith So that we are in the right way for satisfaction and therefore you must not go out of it your self nor seek to draw me out of it by any impertinent Excursions But you tell me you have other things wherein you desire satisfaction Ay Sir that is one of your Scurvy-Tricks and a plain Hint and Intimation of your design of running away I 'll hear nothing of that till we have finished the Point in hand No Sir I will not step a Foot out of the way though it were to prove That Extempore Prayer was brought into these Kingdoms by Romish Emissaries which in due time shall be proved to you by as full and clear Evidence as any Wise Man can desire You see Sir what pains I am forced to take to hedge you in and keep you from flying off And if after all this you will still be gadding and running away you will not only appear to be a Fugitive and Volatile Animal but likewise shew What an Able Champion you are like to make to defend the Dissenting Cause In the mean time I am SIR Your Humble Servant M. H. March 29. 1697. LETTER V. To J. M. SIR HEaring nothing from you these three or four Posts I have had the leisure to go on further in the Perusal of your Letter Where I find you cannot yet come off from that frivolous Distinction between the Gift and Grace of Prayer for you tell me these Terms must not be confounded but carefully distinguished by all that would speak Intelligibly in this Matter Now I think these Terms have rather confounded than clear'd up your Understanding in this Matter and hindred you from Speaking or Writing any thing Intelligibly about it For this is a Distinction without a Difference as I proved in my third Letter But finding you are not very quick or ready to take a thing I 'll try to make it a little more plain and obvious to your Understanding for if it appear that the Gift of Prayer is the Grace of Prayer and the Grace the Gift of it you will then see the Absurdity of it which you may by this Argument The Faculty of performing the Duty of Prayer aright is the Gift of Prayer But the Faculty of performing the Duty of Prayer aright is likewise the Grace of Prayer Ergo The Gift of Prayer is the same thing with the Grace of Prayer Et vicissim The Major is proved from the nature of a Gift or Talent of a thing As Of Writing Reading Speaking Painting Carving c. which are nothing else but Abilities of doing these several things in the best Manner The Minor must remain firm till you can shew any more in the Grace of Prayer than a gracious Gift vouchsafed by the Spirit of God to dispose and enable to the right performance of the Duty of Prayer And therefore the Conclusion must follow That these Terms are Identical and import the same thing So that really Sir This Distinction is much like his who distinguish'd between Operation and Working saying that Pepper was hot in Operation but cold in Working And 't is every Jot as absurd to say that a Man may be hot in the Gift but cold in the Grace of Prayer But because I find you too apt to be impos'd upon by Terms and Phrases without knowing or attending to the true Sense and Meaning of them I shall for the better clearing of this Matter enquire 1. Into the Original of this Distinction Whence it came and of what standing it is in the World 2. Into the Occasion of it Or what it is that hath betray'd and misled so many into it First then Whence Sir had you this Distinction and in what Mint was it coyn'd If you look over the Bible you will not find this Phrase of the Gift of Prayer from one end to the other You may read there of the Gift of Tongues and I think a Gift of Utterance but for the Gift of Prayer in those very Terms you must seek somewhere else And if you are at a loss for the first Term of the Distinction and cannot find the Gift of Prayer there then pray take the Bible again and see whether you can find the other Term of the Grace of Prayer there And if you are at a loss for that too and cannot find the Grace of Prayer in those express Terms mentioned Then to be sure that Distinction never came from the Holy Scriptures where neither of the Terms are to be found Whence then might it come And who was the Author of this famous Distinction Why I have searched into some of the Centuries after the Apostles to see whether any of the Ancient Fathers had heard or spake any thing of it But as far as my search can reach at present I find no News or Tydings of any such Distinction among them but rather the quite contrary Aust Epist 105. St. Austine plainly makes the Terms identical For he tells us Ipsa Oratio inter Gratiae munera reperitur Prayer it self is to be reckon'd among the Works of Grace Hil. on Matth. 5. St. Hilary wills us Orare ad Deum non multiloquio sed Conscientia i. e. Not by pouring out many Words but with the purity of the Heart and Conscience Cypr. de orat dom St. Cyprian tells us that Deus non Vocis sed Cordis Auditor est i. e. God hath no regard to the Voice or any Ability of Expressions Basil de orat but to the Heart only St. Basil speaking of Prayer saith We do not at all define it to a business of Words nor an ability of Expressions And Clemens Alexandrinus gives a Reason for it Clem. Al. Strom. Lib. 7. Because saith he we can speak distinctly unto God tho' with Silence and can utter loud inward Cryes where no Voice is heard A Learned Divine who hath made a narrow and particular Search into the Writings of the Fathers about this matter tells us Dr Falken That all the Ancient Writers discourse of Prayer as a work of the Heart and Soul and not of Words Whereas you discourse of it as a Matter of Words and an Ability of Expressions So that this Distinction was not known in the days of these Fathers No nor in many hundred years after How then did this Distinction come into the World that hath made so much Noise and done so much Mischief in it Come I think you have pointed unto the first Author of it which if I mistake not is Bishop Wilkins Who in his Preface to the Gift of Prayer seems to own and acknowledge as
come prepared with suitable Affections to joyn in it in the latter Men being uncertain what will be ask'd or offered up they must be uncertain too whether they may safely joyn or say Amen to it Again by Men's joyning together in Publick well compos'd Terms Unity and Order may be preserv'd the Peace of the Church and the Decency and Harmony of publick Worship may be secured 1 Cor. 1.10 For hereby according to the Apostles direction they may be enabled to Mind and Speak the same things Phil. 3.16 whereas by the Liberty of free Prayer Men may vent what they please they may and often do pray one against another and mingle their Passions and Errors with their Prayers by which means Confusion must necessarily break in and Sects and Schisms be unavoidably Multiplied and Increased Again by the joyning together in publick establish'd Forms we shew that Duty and Reverence that is owing to our Superiours to whom the care of the Church is committed we pay that Obedience Heb. 13.17 that is due to them that rule over us in the Lord and manifest our Subjection Rom. 13.1 5. and that not only for Wrath or for fear of Punishment but for Conscience sake which things are frequently taught and inculcated in Holy Scripture whereas by indulging this Gift of free Prayer in opposition to publick Establishments Men throw off the Duty of Obedience to the lawful Commands of their Superiours Jude 8. They come to despise wholsome Laws and to Speak evil of Dignities and this prepares them for Sedition and all manner of Disobedience Once more The joyning together in the same Prayers in publick Worship is a good means to preserve Love and Charity among Neighbours for Mens Religion hath a great influence on their Manners and conversation with each other They that go to the House of God together as Friends commonly continue so and maintain an Amicable and Friendly Correspondence whereas they that break into different parties and communions soon become Strangers and very often Enemies to one another Different ways of Worship necessarily breed Differences among Men and they that divide in Opinion generally do in Affection too sad Experience shews this both in Families Towns and Countries and he that will consider the hearty Love and Amity that was found in this Kingdom before the Civil Wars when all Men resorted to the same place and way of Worship and compare it to that Hatred Falshood Division and Contention that reigns in these present days will easily see the Miserable effects that have proceeded from your Gift of free Prayer which as it first caused our Divisions so is still the main Tool to uphold and increase them Sir These are serious and weighty Truths and very well deserve your deep and impartial Consideration which if you please to bestow upon them I doubt not but you will see cause to believe that to bring ardent Desires and good Affections to the publick Prayers of the Church whereby the inward Piety of the Heart towards God the outward Duty of subjection to Superiours and the mutual Offices of Love and Charity to our Neighbours are best promoted is far to be prefer'd before the Gift of free Prayer which being chiefly exercis'd about Words and Expressions is apt to disturb the Devotion of the Mind to give offence to our Governours and to create Feuds and Animosities among Neighbours Call to mind Sir the many affectionate Exhortations to Unity and Order 1 Cor. 1.10 with which the holy Scriptures do abound how heartily our Saviour prayed for it at his leaving the World John 17.20.21 22 23. Eph. 4 3 4. c. That they all might be one and how earnestly the Apostle presses the Unity of the Spirit in the Bond of Peace and how sharply he rebuked all that cause and foment Divisions 1 Cor. 3.3 4 c. and consider whether Joyning together in the same pious and publick Prayers appointed by the Church be not a better means to preserve this Unity and Order than to leave Men to the freedom of venting and hearing what Prayers they please which must necessarily distract their Minds and lead them into great Confusions and Disorders But I find two Objections in your Letters against publick Establish'd Forms and for the exercise of Free Prayer The one is taken from the variety of emergent Accidents and Occasions of humane Life which cannot be so well provided for by Forms as by Free Prayet The other is taken from the tendency of the constant use of Forms to flatten and dull the Devotion which must therefore be quickened by the help of new and varied Prayers I shall shew both these to be popular Mistakes and bring on greater Mischiefs than they pretend to remedy and when that is done I shall consider what you offer from Bishop Hall and Bishop Wilkins In the mean time I am SIR Your hearty Friend and Well-wisher M. H. Apr. 15 1697. LETTER VIII To J. M. SIR I Promised in my last an Answer to two Popular Objections against Forms of Prayer which I find you making use of as Arguments for your Free Prayer The first whereof is taken from the variety of emergent Accidents and Occasions which you say cannot be so well provided for by Forms as by Free Prayer Now I would not have you be too positive and confident in this matter till you have well weigh'd these following Considerations viz. First The daily and ordinary matter of publick Prayer is still the same and therefore that may well be provided for by stated and useful Forms Now the daily and ordinary matter of publick Prayer are Confession of Sin Petition for Pardon with other Temporal and Spiritual Blessings Thanksgiving for Mercies received and Intercession for all Men whether Friends or Foes And more especially for those whom we are more particularly directed to pray for All which may be and are provided for by standing prescribed Forms and those so wisely ordered and composed too that as all Men may know and satisfie themselves in them before-hand so they may come prepared to joyn in them To instance in Particulars For Confession of Sin we have Two excellent Forms of it in the Publick Liturgy the One in the Daily the other in the Communion Service of the Church Where the general Aberrations of humane Life in Thought Word and Deed are so piously and pithily express'd that every true penitent Christian may and ought with one Heart and one Mouth to joyn in them But these you say float too much in Generalities But must not the publick Confession be so General that all Men may be able to make it Would you have it descend to those particular Sins which many are not guilty of and so make them confess that to God with which they cannot charge themselves There are many no doubt in every Congregation that never committed Murder or Adultery by taking away the Life or Chastity of any Person and would
you have these and other Enormous Crimes put into the Publick Confession from which many are free and so falsly accuse themselves before God You know that every one hath some particular Sins to which their Constitution and Circumstances of Life may more strongly incline them Now these are to be the subject of Mens private and secret Confessions but must not enter the publick Confession of the Church for that must be so framed as to reach all that all may joyn in it We are indeed to Pray against every particular Sin which is excellently well done in the Litany but we are to confess no more than we are guilty of And how far the Confessions of your free Prayer are faulty this way you will do well to consider Again for Petition for Mercy and Pardon with all other Spiritual and Temporal Blessings these too may be and are excellently provided for by pious and prescrib'd Forms The common and ordinary wants of Christians are constantly the same We want daily the Pardon of the Sins of every Day We lack continually our Daily Bread We stand in daily need of the Aids and Assistances of God's Holy Spirit to strengthen our Graces and to fortifie us against Temptations Now Prayers for the supply of these and all other Common wants of Christians are very well taken care of in the Litany Collects and other Offices of the Church If any Christian hath particular wants of his own that are not common to all Christians these are to be made the Requests of his secret and retired Devotion for nothing is to be pray'd for in Publick but what all Christians may joyntly ask and agree in If you call this too A floating in Generalities Know That this is all that is necessary or expedient for publick Worship Again For Thanksgivings for Mercies received these too may be and are well provided for by Publick Forms The Common and Ordinary Mercies vouchsaf'd to Christians are still the same the same Mercies are renew'd upon us every day and we daily partake of the same Instances of the Divine Bounty and Goodness And these are excellently well compriz'd in the general Thanksgiving where the common Mercies of Creation Preservation and likewise the more special Blessings of our Redemption are acknowledg'd together with the means of Grace and hopes of Glory And for other particular Mercies that the whole Congregation may hear and joyn in they are well provided for by Particular Collects And if besides these there be any more Particular Mercy and Deliverance which any One hath a mind to preserve the sense and memory of he may make it the Subject of his secret Praises and Thanksgivings Then Lastly for Intercessions these too may be and are happily provided for in Publick Forms in which according to the Apostle's Direction Supplications and Prayers Intercessions and Giving of thanks are made for all Men for Kings and all that are in Authority 1 Tim. 2.1 2 3. and for others that we are bound to Pray for So that the daily and usual Matter of Prayer being always the same what need is there of your Talent of Variations in these Cases Is God think you delighted in new Phrases and Expressions when there is no occasion for them Does any Earthly Parent deny his Blessing to his Child because he asks it in the same Words to day that he did yesterday Much less will our Heavenly Father whose Compassions are infinitely more tender deny our Daily Bread or reject our Petitions because they are offer'd up in the same Words God is the same Yesterday to day and for ever and our wants are the same to day that they were yesterday and will be so continually And then what need can there be of varying Expressions when we address to him with whom Is no variableness neither shadow of turning Jam. 1.17 2. But besides this daily and usual matter of Prayer which is still the same there may be 2ly some more rare and occasional matter of Prayer As the want of Rain or Fair Weather the Necessities of War Famine Sickness and the like Now if you will peruse the Liturgy you will find all these admirably taken care of by Particular Offices and Collects suited to those Occasions And likewise proper Thanksgivings for them when our Prayers are answered And being so what need can there be of the various and changable Expressions of your Free Prayer We find our Saviour who could not want variety of Expressions Praying three times upon such an occasion using still the same Words and that in his Agony too when the Anguish and Bitterness of his Sufferings was sufficient to inspire him with many new Words if there had been any need of them and even in the heighth and horror of his Dereliction he was so far from affecting new Words that he made use of a short Form taken out of the Psalms My God my God why hast thou forsaken me Psal 22.1 So that all these Occasional Emergencies being so well provided for there can be no need of your Free Prayer in these Cases neither But besides all these there may be Lastly Other extraordinary occasions As Publick Fasts for national Sins and Calamities And likewise Publick Thanksgivings for national Mercies and Deliverances Now these too are by the Wisdom and Piety of the Church constantly taken care of by Publick and well digested Forms suitable to such Occasions So that your frequent Questions What shall we do for Prayers to solemnize the King's Deliverance from Assassinations French Invasions Jacobite Insurrections c. are all idle and frivolous For all these things as far as Authority thinks fit to take notice of them are abundantly taken care of by suitable and Publick Forms And if you know any as you say that turn Fasts into Festivals or Festivals into Humiliations you will do well to bring them to condign Punishment and not charge the Faults of private Persons upon the Publick Prayers But you ask What must we stay till Arch-Bishop Sancroft and Bishop Kenn shall send us Prayers upon such Occasions Yes Sir I think it becomes you to stay for the Orders and Directions of your Superiours in such Cases for else you may go too fast and mistake a Deliverance for a Defeat And so instead of a Sober well ordered Devotion you may offer up the Sacrifice of Fools Your over-hasty Zeal may prove a false Fire and lead you out of the way And therefore if you are big of your own Conceptions you were best stay out the due time to be delivered of them for fear of a Miscarriage But must you not have a fine conceit of yourself all this while to think you can better perform the Work of such Solemn Seasons by the present Conceptions of your own Brain than by the grave and deliberate composures of the whole Church The sum of all then is this The daily and constant Matter of Prayer is still the same And other Occasional and Extraordinay Emergencies
may be and are very well provided for by well-compos'd Forms for Solomon tells us There is nothing new under the Sun But if any such new and unheard of Occurrence should happen that Authority neither hath nor can well make provision for there is none will blame you if you either compose a Form or use your free Prayer upon such an occasion Provided it be done with modesty and due respect to the Authority of your Superiours So that these things well considered neither is the Case of Publick Forms weakened nor the necessity of Free Prayer confirm'd by your frequent Talk of Providential Events and Occurrences Your other Objection shall be answered in my next in the mean time I am SIR Your affectionate Friend and Servant M. H. April 9. 1697. LETTER IX To J. M. SIR I Come now according to Promise to consider the second Objection against Forms which you likewise make use of as an Argument for free Prayer And that is taken from the tendency of Forms to cloy and dull your Devotion and the aptness of free Prayer to quicken and enliven the same A great Fault indeed in the One and a great Convenience in the Other if both be true but I think we shall find upon examination that neither is First then you say Publick Forms are apt to deaden and dull your Devotion But why so Why for two Reasons viz. 1. Because they are constantly the same old Words and likewise 2ly Because they are red out of a Book too Now if these be good Reasons you must be as dull as a Beetle in reading the Holy Scriptures and stark dead at the Lord's Prayer for these are always the same Words and read out of a Book too And he that can find no Life or Spirit in reading of these cannot be edifyed by any Prayer Our Saviour exhorted to the frequent reading of the Scriptures 1 Tim. 4.13 and the Apostle to give attendance to reading Which was done by the Primitive Christians with that Intention and Fervency that as Origen tells us The devout Reader seem'd to be in a manner inspir'd But you are dull'd it seems with reading old things and nothing can please you but what is new and speaking without Book Might not this Sir be the occasion of setting up new Lights above the Scriptures to please such new-fangled Humours and enlighten such dull Understandings Yea hath not this occasion'd the laying aside the Lord's Prayer and the Apostles Creed because they are still the same old Words and read out of a Book too But tell me Sir did Christ prescribe a Form of Prayer to deaden or help the Devotion of his Followers Or did the Holy Ghost destroy all the Life and Vigour of it by putting it into Writing that it might be read and used by Christians in all Ages If this were true Oral Tradition would be a greater help to Devotion than the Oracles of God for these are old written Truths and the other the various and changeable Inventions of Men. Does not the Apostle bid us To hold fast the Form of sound words which we can neither hold fast 2 Tim. 1.13 nor keep sound long if it be subject to daily Variations Must we be always Children to be pleas'd only with New Things Ephes 4.14 1 Cor. 14.20 and like them to be carried about with every wind of Doctrin Or must we not in Vnderstanding be Men by standing firm to the Ancient Faith and keeping close to the receiv'd and well-order'd Models of Devotion But why Sir should grave and well-order'd Words in Prayer put such a Damp upon your Spirits and dull your Devotion One would think that few and well-weigh'd Expressions should better tend to make Men soberly and religiously Devout than pouring out many new raw and indigested ones and that the Heart should be more at leisure to attend the great business of Prayer when Matter and Words are well prepared for it than when 't is called off and hindred by the Study and Invention of both A Wise Man would think it a great quickening of Devotion to consider that he is joyning with the whole Church at the same time and in the same Prayers and would thereby be encourag'd with greater hopes of success from the harmony and agreement of our Petitions which our Saviour hath made necessary and effectual to that end Mat. 18. But I fear Sir the dulness you speak of will be found more the Fault of the Persons than the Prayers For 't is not possible that the well-order'd Matter and Words of a pious Form should so disorder the Spirits and dull your Affections if there were not something else in the matter Have you not Sir some other Game to play upon the People which is better carried on by new Words than old Then 't is no wonder that that is accounted dull which does not move forward and advance the Design Have you not entertain'd some Prejudices your self or infus'd Prejudices into others against Forms As That they cannot provide for all Emergencies and that the constant Use and Repetition of them is apt to cloy and surfeit and so have put People out of Love with plain wholsome Food by treating them with Kickshaws and Varieties 'T is ten to one but there is something of this in the matter Your unjust Censures Outcries and Declamations against pious and publick Forms hath caused many to neglect the publick Worship and made others careless and irreverent in it And if so you must answer for your own and others dulness which you have unhappily occasioned Secondly You say That old and frequently repeated Forms are not more apt to dull than new and varied Prayers are to quicken and enliven you for you find a different Heat and Flame in such Prayers But pray Sir what kind of Heat is that you feel in such Prayers Is it not rather the Warmth and Heat of Fancy than any real Fervency of Spirit This is a frequent and dangerous Mistake and hath impos'd upon many who have taken some false Heats for true Zeal and the delusions of the Imagination for the true Devotion of the Heart But because this is not easily discern'd or understood by vulgar Minds I will endeavour as clearly as I can to discover the Delusion To this end we may observe That as in the Body there is a Natural Heat residing in the Heart which conveys warm Blood and Spirits to all the Members and in this the Health and sound Constitution of the Body mainly consists so there are sometimes the preternatural Heats of Fevers and other Distempers which too much inflame the Blood and put the Spirits into a violent and disorderly motion and this is an evil habit and indisposition of the Body Just so likewise it is with the Soul there is a pious fervency of Spirit which resides in the Heart and fills it with strong desires after God and an inward delight in him and in this consists sound and
Interpretations so that if you will behold your self in this Glass of the Law you may soon see the Face of a Pharisee But let us go on Fourthly To the Doctrin of the Pharisees and this we shall find to consist of many rigorous and uncommanded Austerities For they placed Holiness in some things which God never required and fix'd a Brand of Sinfulness on others which were no where forbidden Not to eat with unwashen Hands was a great piece of their Religion and they superstitiously abstained from many things which were never made unlawful to them and is not this the very Hue and Complexion of your Religion Do you not place a great part of your Holiness in separating from others and using Extempore Prayers which are no where commanded And likewise in religiously abstaining from Forms of Prayer kneeling at the Sacrament and other innocent and indifferent Rites which are no where Prohibited By which means you either willfully or unwillingly fall into that Superstition which you are wont so frequently and falsely to charge upon others But I proceed Fifthly To the Life and Manners of the Pharisees who tho pretending to greater Holiness are often rebuked by our Saviour for many and great Enormities for they neglected Judgment and Justice and other weightier matters of the Law They passed by the Duties of Morality and Honesty as things too low for Men of their Attainments We find our Saviour Cautioning his Disciples against the Leaven of the Pharisees 1 Cor. 5.8 which leaven'd the whole Lump of their Sect and that was of different kinds for we read of the Leaven of Pride which puff'd them up Luk. 12 1. the Leaven of Malice and Wickedness which soured their Minds against other Men the Leaven of Hypocrisy which made them all Shew and no Substance And as this Leaven was of different kinds so did it appear in different Effects they had it in their Face Mat 16.12 which made them look soure they had it in their Tongue which made them speak great swelling Words of Vanity they had it in their Doctrin which made it smell of rank Corruption and Superstition In a Word they were leavened all over and they who boasted so much of their greater Sanctity were by our Saviour set forth as the greatest Instances and Monuments of Hypocrisy I am loth here to draw the Parallel and therefore shall leave you and others to judge how like it is But Lastly The main thing you refer to in the Pharisees is their Prayers which were remarkable for Two things their Length and their Loudness Mat 23.14 for when they had a mind to rob the Spittle or devour a Widows House for a pretence they made long Prayers when they were willing to be heard and seen of Men Mat. 6.5 they Opened upon all occasions and prayed in the very Corners of the Streets and perhaps Face cannot better answer to Face in Water than your Prayers do to theirs both in the make and design of them and 't was an Ingenious Observation that few are like the Pharisees for their long Prayers who are not extreamly like them for something else But you ask Where are the Pharisees blamed for their Babling and vain Repetitions in Prayer Sir Are they not sharply rebuk'd by our Saviour for their long Prayers which together with their long Robes were made a Covering for all their Rapine and Injustice And are not vain Repetitions the main Ornaments and Ingredients of long Prayers Do you not find one of them going to God with this proud and impertinent Harangue Luke 18.11 12 c. God I thank thee I am not as other Men Extortioners Adulterers c. and after he had reckoned up some of his Virtues and Perfections thought that God could do no less than Justifie him as much as he had done himself and what think you Sir Is not this vain Babling Can any thing be more Irksom and Nauseous both to God and Man But is not this a Misquotation or extemporary Effusion say you to affirm that of the Pharisees which was spoken of the Heathens No 't is a frequent and ordinary Allusion to apply the same Words to one that were spoken of another when they were both guilty of the same Fault and this was the Case of the Pharisees who falling into the vain Repetitions of the Heathen and thinking with them to be heard for their long Prayers or which is all one for their much Speaking might be justly Charg'd and Rebuk'd for both And yet you seem to insult here as if you had got a Victory and vainly Triumph in the empty Glory of your own Ignorance and Folly But you ask farther whether a short Collect or Litany will more prevail with God than a long one and whether good Affections in a long Prayer be not as prevalent with him as in a short Litany Sir Mat. 8.2 Luke 18.13 28. We find many Prayers condemn'd for their Length but none for their Shortness Yea the greatest Successes that we read that have attended Prayer have been found to be given to short ones Solomon who was the wisest of Men Eccl. 5.2 hath not only preferr'd these but required them too in all our Addresses unto God willing that our Words unto him should be few and that for good reason too for if a Word be enough to the Wise there can be no need of many to him who is Wisdom it self Besides few Words are a better sign of Modesty and Reverence to Superiors and consequently of that Humility that becomes us in our Approaches to our Maker than tedious and long winded Speeches But what is most considerable great intention of mind and such as should go along with our Prayers spend the Spirits too fast to continue long and therefore 't is impossible to keep up that heighth of Affection and Devotion in a long Prayer that we may in a short For Experience shews us that Length and Tediousness blunt the edge of the Mind and make it to grow weary and impatient Whereas Breaks and Interruptions call upon the Mind afresh and renew its Vigour and Intention And therefore many short Collects each of which beginning with some Attribute of God proper to usher in the Request and ending with the Merits and Mediation of Christ must give greater life to our Prayers and add greater Efficacy and Success to them than one long and continued Prayer can do So likewise in Litanies where the People have a share in each Supplication their Devotion may be much better Awakened and Enlivened than in a continued Harangue where the People have no part and many times can scarce say Amen Thus Sir I have given you the Picture of a Pharisee at his Prayers If it look too hard upon you and shew you the Features and Lineaments of your own Complexion you must thank your self not only for imitating and transcribing so bad a Copy but for calling so earnestly for the Character of
as a Translation of the Mass and a stinting the Spirit of Prayer by which means he greatly distracted the Minds of the People drew many from the Church and sowed those Seeds of Discord among them that are not rooted out to this day After his Examination he cunningly made his Escape and hastened to Rome where he gave the Pope an account of this Negotiation who being well pleas'd with his good Service gave him a liberal Reward for his pains and this was the occasion of that Act of Parliament in the days of that Queen requiring all People to repair every Sunday to Divine Service under the penalty of Twelve pence for every default which was to bring them back again to the Established Worship of the Church whom he and other Emissaries had seduced from it Thomas Heath in like manner venting his Talent of free Prayer in several places deluded many poor Souls into a vain Conceit and love of this which he called a more Spiritual way of Worship and having spent some time in this vile Trade of perverting and seducing the People was at length discovered by a Letter casually dropt from him which betrayed his Correspondence with the Jesuits abroad and being thereupon farther searched there were found about him his Beads with a License from the Fraternity of the Jesuits and a Bull from the Pope to Preach what Doctrine that Society pleas'd for the dividing of Protestants The Examinations of both these are published at large by the learned Dr. Nalson in a Treatise entituled Foxes and Firebrands to which I refer you 'T is not to be doubted Sir as that learned Author observes but from the Success of their Agents the Pope and Colledge de Propaganda fide have been industrious enough to improve this Advantage to stock us with disguised Emissaries to increase our Differences and inflame Mens Minds in hopes to destroy our Church by our own Divisions How active and buisy they have been ever since the Reformation to embroil us the Histories of the late Reigns may easily satisfy us what great hand they had in raising and fomenting the Civil Wars what Part they Acted in the Tragedy of King Charles the First whom they could never bring over to favour their Designs how they Tampered with Arch Bishop Laud with the offers of the greatest Perferments in Rome and finding him inflexible took away his Head for refusing a Cardinals Cap And what rejoycing there was at Rome upon the last Scene of both these Tragedies triumphing that the great Enemies of their Religion were gon is well known and attested by persons of good Quality and Credit who were there in those Times and were both eye and ear Witnesses of it Yea Grâ—â— Relig Sect. 66. we find Mr. Baxter himself strongly suspecting that the Papists had both a Head and a Hand too in the Extirpation of Episcopacy And Mr. Prin and Du Moulin tell us of many known Romanists that were found in the Meetings of divers Sects that sprang up upon the Dissolution of the Government Among the Books and Papers of Thomas Heath were found several against Infant Baptism which gives us a hint of the rise of that Sect and we find some of the Priests confessing how long they were hammering out the Sect of the Quakers How hard they are at work at this time is easily discern'd by wise Men their Expectations daily encrease with our Divisions and they are in great hopes of having a good Harvest from the Tares they have so industriously sowed among us By which you may see Sir whose Tools and Underworkers you are and likwise what Work you are a doing and whose Ends you serve by your groundless and unreasonable Separation And is it not time Sir to consider the Evil and Danger of your ways Will you continue to undermine the Protestant Religion by pulling down the main Prop and Bullwork of it and that by a Device too invented by our Adversaries merely to that purpose For shame Sir Open your Eyes and see from whence you are fallen and repent Thus I have given you the Original of Extempore Prayer and shewed it to be a late Invention brought into these Kingdoms by the Subtilty of Romish Emissaries merely to distract and divide the People If you do not like this Account of the Rise of this Invention you may take another Account of it from a learned Divine who hath trac'd its Original higher and found it to be one of the Wiles and Works of the Devil to undermine and destroy all religious Worship And indeed the natural tendency of this Device to produce this Mischief plainly shews it to have another Spirit for ' its Author than that which is commonly pretended SIR If you have any thing else considerable Dr. Bray Sect. 11. on the Cat. vol. 1. p. 113. that is not answered let me know it and I will spare no pains for your Satisfaction otherwise I shall proceed to what you say of Bishop Hall and Bishop Wilkins I am SIR Your hearty Friend and Wellwisher M. H. June 17. 1697. LETTER XIX To J. M. SIR HAving shew'd you the Divine Authority and Antiquity of Forms of Prayer together with the Novelty and late rise of your Free Prayer for publick Worship I come now to the Authorities you alledge in favour of the Latter and they are Bishop Hall and Bishop Wilkins This is the strong Hold to which you always resort and if you are beaten out of this I fear you are a lost Man But before I enter upon it I must needs say First That I am glad to hear that some Bishops can please you Time was when they were look'd upon as the Limbs of Antichrist and were treated accordingly and Bishop Hall found this among the rest but now Thank 's be to God you have other and better Thoughts of them 't is to be hoped Sir you will in time be better reconciled to the Order and read more of their learned Writings But the mischief is unless they write or drop something in Favour of your Faction you have done with them and will neither reverence their Order nor regard their Writings If they speak as you would have them you can afford them now and then a good Word otherwise your Tongues are sharp Arrows and your Words are very Swords 'T is now the Famous and Learned Bishop Hall the Pious and Judicious Bishop Wilkins whilst you think they have struck a Blow on your side but when you find your Mistake 't is to be seared you will serve them as you have done others and let them pass away with plain Dr. Hall and Dr. Wilkins This is to say no worse a very untoward piece of Partiality Again Secondly By your Quoting those two Reverend Fathers it may be hoped you will refer the Matter in debate to the Decision of the Bishops that indeed would soon put an end to the Controversy and I am very willing to put it upon that Issue But I
Prayer could find from the Authority of Bishop Hall I come now to see whether they are like to find any better from the Authority of Bishop Wilkins This is your last Refuge and if this Prop fails your Cause may be in some danger of Sinking What you alledge from him is out of a Book Intitled The Gift of Prayer from which I find you transcribing many passages upon all occasions In that Book the learned Author endeavour'd to reduce Free conceived Prayer into an Art a Design as himself acknowledges that was perfectly new and never attempted by any before him Now that must be acknowledg'd to be a very considerable prejudice to the Undertaking for new Devices and Inventions in Religion have been ever found to be very dangerous and all Churches have felt the Mischief and inconveniences of such Novelties He that walks in a new and untrodden Path may easily lose his Way and many by leaving the Antient Track have found themselves in the Briers Jer. 6.16 and therefore we are bid to Enquire for the old Ways and to walk in them it being much more safe to keep in the beaten Road of Antiquity than to seek out and wander in the By-paths of Innovations But to come to the Book We find that Great man in the Preface wondring that so little should be said or written on that Subject to help him in his Undertaking Now this Wonder may soon cease by calling to mind that all Christian Churches in all times and places perform'd their Publick Worship by Set prescribed Forms and so as there was no use so neither was there any need of this Artificial Gift which is a sufficient Reason of the Silence of Antiquity about it But when this Art began to be studied and put in practice it soon became an Instrument of Division and is at this day one of the principal Wiles and Artifices of Seducers Accordingly therefore this Great man finding the bad Effects of this new Experiment in Divinity and observing how greedily it was catch'd at and abus'd by Sectaries thought fit to abandon this New Art without adding improving or so much as correcting the Imperfections of it and He himself to his dying day became a constant frequenter of the Publick Prayers of the Church and likewise according to the Duty of his Office strictly kept his Clergy to them But the better to clear up this Matter you must consider Sir the Time of the writing of that Book together with the Occasion and End for which 't was written and then you will soon see what little stress is to be laid upon it For the Time of writing it 't was when the Liturgy and Discipline of the Church of England were by a prevailing Faction laid aside and all godly Forms of Prayer decry'd at which time a whole Deluge of Errors and new Opinions broke in upon us and by the help of Free Prayer were vented and spread abroad to the great increase of Sects and Schisms among us By this means Men lost the Reverence that is due to the Divine Majesty bespeaking him in a loose careless and indecent manner and the Solemnity of Prayer was prostituted to vile and secular purposes Now to remedy those Evils this Great Man wrote this Book to direct Men in this Duty when they were deprived of the Assistance of Forms and to preserve if possible some Sense in their Prayers at a time when there was so little of it to be heard Moreover if we consider the manner and model drawn up by this Reverend Person for this purpose we shall find it in effect to be This. When one sort of Forms were cryed down he endeavoured to bring up another that is when Book-Forms were removed by the subtlety of Designing Men p. 11. he endeavoured to set up Mental-Forms or repeating their Prayers by memory which he stiles An invisible Book for the Register of our Thoughts hoping thereby to keep up that sense and seriousness that was requisite in this Duty there being but little difference as he tells us betwixt Repeating by memory and Reading out of a Book That this was the main drift of the Author in that Book appears by these following things First p. 10. He forbid's Men to depend altogether upon sudden Suggestions or Effusions as if it were A Quenching or Confinement of the Spirit to be furnished before-hand with Matter and Expressions for this Service p. 13. In another place he requires them To prepare themselves by study and premeditation for this Duty that is as appears by what is mentioned before to lay up both Matter and Words in their Memory for the more decent and orderly performance of it Again p. 3. 18 he condemns leavning these things to suddain Infusion which occasions Mens bespeaking God Almighty in a loose and careless manner Furthermore he would have them settle and compose their Thoughts or fix these things in their Memory p. 19. for the more solemn performance of this Duty that they may the better avoid all idle impertinent and wild Expressions the usual Embellishments of Extempore-Prayer Secondly p. 17. He condemns all Affectation of varying Words and Phrases in Prayer by which means Men become expos'd to empty vain and unseemly Expressions Now you know Sir that the great difference between Forms and Free Prayer is that in the former the same Words are used upon the same occasions and the latter changes Phrases without any necessity and 't is well known that the chief Excellency of the conceived Prayers of Sectaries lies in this vanity of Variation which this Great Man severely condemns Thirdly He condemns all Affecttaion of Length which you know is one of the great Ornaments and Attendants of Free Prayer p. 17. and to avoid this Prolixity p. 19. he cautions against all empty Repetitions and Digressions letting us know Eccl. 5.2 that God is in Heaven and we are upon Earth therefore our Words should be few Fourthly This Author distinguisheth between Praying in Publick with others p. 16. and Praying Secretly betwixt God and our own Souls allowing Men in secret to take a greater Liberty of enlarging themselves in their own Expressions which though not in themselves so significant and proper may yet suit their Minds and serve to set forth their own immediate Thoughts But in Publick Prayers where we are the Mouth of others and should engage the Affections of those that joyn with us there greater care must be taken that our Expressions be so proper and deliberate as may be most Effectual to that End and for that purpose prefers premeditated Forms wherein Matter and Words are prepared before hasty and present Conceptions In a word this Reverend Author places the great work and business of Prayer p. 2. 3. in the Heart which he stiles the Life and Spirit of it and consequently the Words are but the Carkaess and Shell of it adding withal that 't is not essential to Prayer
hereby you would see that Words are no part of Prayer and how absurd it is to place the Gift of it in that which does not appertain to it and likewise how impossible it is to perform the Duty without the Gift which is nothing else but the Ability of performing it Can any Speak without the Gift of Speaking or Think or Write without the Gift of Thinking or Writing How then should it come to pass that a Man can Pray without the Gift of Praying Moreover you might learn from hence that God's bestowing the Assistance of his Grace to kindle and excite Pious Dispositions of Heart in seeking unto him is most properly his vouchsasing the Gift of Prayer and our Exercising or Exerting such earnest and affectionate Desires with a lively Faith and inward Devotion is our having or using the Gift of Prayer And really Sir you may as well distinguish between the Gift and Grace of Charity as the Gift and Grace of Prayer both which are the Gracious Gifts of God's Holy Spirit the one enclining us to shew Mercy to our Neighbour and the other to ask Mercy and Favour at the Hands of God If you will consider this well and make it the Subject of your second and best Thoughts 't is possible it may help to bring this matter to a good Issue In the mean time I am glad I have in some measure cur'd the Malady of Excursions for I find the Number of them mightily abated there being in your last Letter not above five or six that are very considerable viz. about King William the Assassination the Jacobitish Insurrections French Invasion and their Preparations c. of which because I find you sensible by asking Pardon for them and desiring me not to be too severe upon them I am willing to pass them by hoping they may wholly wear oft in time though such an Inveterate Habit cannot be cur'd presently But the Misery is the curing of one Evil hath made you fall into another and from Excursions you are run into plain Contradictions For there is no reconciling your last Letter with the first In the first you told me that I made you put the Gift of Prayer where neither you nor any body else ever put it viz. in Words and Expressions In your last you place the Gift wholly and solely in them so that as t' was once Rich. against Baxter so 't is now I. against M. But how does this appear Why as clear as the Sun both by the Arguments and Distinctions of your Last Your first Argument is an Appeal to the common way of Speaking For when 't is said that such an one hath a good Gift of Prayer we mean not say you that he hath any pious Motions or good Affections but that he aptly expresseth himself in that Duty So that the apt Expressions are with you the Gift of Prayer Whereas I say that without those pious Motions and Affections such a one hath a good Gift of Prating as appears by pouring out so many Words but he hath no good Gift of Praying for that is the pouring out the Heart and Soul unto God But you say 't is Vulgarly so stiled I hope Sir you are not to be led by the Vulgar into their Errors and Mistakes but to lead them out of them But I see your Notions are as Vulgar as the Persons you converse with and there is no raising you a Twirl above the Vulgar where all your Interest lies Your next Argument is more Home for the Words than this for therein you tell us that the Words themselves whereby we express our selves may be and are commonly term'd Prayer which you prove thus Because when a Man is said to rehearse the Lord's Prayer or to read Common Prayer the meaning is say you that he rehearseth or reads the Words of those Prayers not that he hath any Pious Motions or Affections And can any thing more plainly follow from hence than that the Words whereby we express our selves are with you the Gift of Prayer But pray Sir Is the bare rehearsing the words praying why then a Parret may pray for that may be taught all or most of those words You did not then think of that and therefore must think it over again But you have one Argument that quite contradicts and destroys all this again And that is to prove that a Man may have the Gift of Prayer without the Gift of Speech Utterance or Elocution and so it can neither lie in the Words nor in the Ability neither The Argument runs thus If there be a great many who have a Talent or Gift of expressing Desires to God in a suitable manner in Praying that have not the Gift of Elocution applicable to other occasions Then there is a difference between the Gift of Elocution and the Gift of Prayer And who doubts it Did I not tell you before that 't was your unhappiness not to distinguish and discern between them But the design of the Argument is to shew That you can and do distinguish between them and that because as you say there are a great many who have a Talent or Gift of uttering their Desires in a suitable manner unto God that have no Gift of Elocution upon other occasions That is there are many Men who can scarce speak a word of Sense between Man and Man who yet can pour out abundance of wonderful and powerful Sense unto God in Prayer Now how should this be What are they inspir'd with Matter and Words in talking unto God and left to their own natural Dulness in their conversing with Men For the proof of this you appeal to the Experience of many Christians whom you have heard and known I know not Sir what wonderful things you have heard of this kind but I fear the great Sense you speak of if Wise Men had the hearing of it would be frequently found great Nonsense Pass we then from your Arguments to your Distinctions And here you shew as nice and distinguishing a Head as most Men and for splitting of a Hair I think 't is hard for Peter Lumbard or any Schoolman of them all to go beyond you But let us see what your Distinctions are to what end they serve and where they most properly place or six the Gift of Prayer First then you distinguish between a special Gift of Prayer which by the Name should be the best and this you place in the Heart and the good Motions of it and here you are safe as in a Church or Castle for that is all that is necessary and essential to Prayer But besides this there is a common Gift which lies in Words and Expressions And this is your Gift of Prayer though it may be done without it Again you distinguish between the Internal Spiritual Gift of Prayer in which consists the Life and Spirit of it and this you place in the Elevations of the Heart and here you are right again if you would but rest
there But you must needs have an external verbal Gift made up of new Words and Phrases to serve upon occasion and this again is your Gift of Prayer Furthermore you distinguish between an acceptable way of Praying with respect to God which is the right performance of this Duty and this you very well place in the inward Desires and Elevations of the Heart Now the other Member of this Distinction must be an acceptable way of Praying with respect to Men and this may lie in new and varied Words which are most apt to tickle the itching Ears and please the Fancies of vain Men And This is your Gift because you say Old Words are good for nothing but to dull and deaden you Devotion Again you distinguish between a Moral or Theological way of performing the Duty of Prayer and This you place in the devour Affections of the Soul And an artificial way of performing this Duty and This you put in Apt Words and Expressions though they are no part of it Lastly you distinguish between a successful way of Praying the Gift whereof you own to lie in the good Motions and Dispositions of the Soul and an Unsuccessful or a way of Praying to no purpose And This being good for nothing you may place it in Words or the Ability of Expressions or where else you please And now Sir be pleas'd to look back to the new Sating of the Question in the beginning of this Letter and tell me whether the Special Spiritual Internal Devout and Successful way of performing the Duty of Prayer be not most properly principally and deservedly stiled the Gift of Prayer and whether the common external artificial and unsuccessful way of Praying be not very improperly and abusively called by that Name I am SIR Your affectionate Friend and Wellwisher M. H. April 12. 1697. LETTER VII To J. M. SIR I Hope by this time you begin to see what a vain empty thing your own Arguments and Distinctions make of your Gift of Prayer for whether you put it in Words or in an Ability or in a Variety of Expressions 't is a meer windy and flatulent Notion apt indeed to puff up but not to edify and perhaps 't is hard to find a greater Instance of Pride and Folly together than to hear one venting his Talent of Words among the Ignorant deluded Vulgar where his affected Tone mingled with their affected Groans renders it rather a Scene of Mockery than Devotion You know Sir Verba dare is to deceive and that a great deal of Guile and Hypocrisy lies under the Pomp and flourish of Words One would think Sir that when God saith my Son give me thy Heart he had plainly directed to the Gift he expects in Prayer but instead of that you give him the Tongue and offer up the Calves of the Lips and with the Heathens think him delighted with the Gift of much Speaking 'T is too evident Sir by both your Letters that you cannot yet discern between the Gift of Speech and the Gift of Prayer for you confound and take one for the other without knowing it as you may plainly see by this Argument The Ability of Expressions is nothing else but the Gift of Speech But your Gift of Prayer is an Ability of Expressions and therefore your Gift of Prayer is nothing else but the Gift of Speech The Minor is your own the Major is evident because Ability is the same with Gift and Expressions the same with Speech and consequently they are both the same thing And yet you Labour hard to prove that some Men can and do pray very fluently without this Gift of Speech which being the same with your Ability of Expressions is to prove that they may pray without your Gift of Praying and likewise that they may speak very fluently without the Gift of Speech The Absurdity whereof is gross enough to be felt Again I find you Arguing That because that extraordinary Gift of Praying by Inspiration which was peculiar to the Apostles and appropriated wholly to the Matter and Words of Prayer is by St. Chrysostom and others called the Gift of Prayer therefore your common and ordinary Gift of Speech or Ability of Expressions which is applicable to any other occasion must be stiled by that sacred Name Thus are you Bewildred and Lost as it were in a Mist or Cloud of Words and led by an Ignis fatuus so far out of the way that you scarce know where you are But come I fear 't is this word Gift that hath thus impos'd upon you and done all this Mischief and therefore let us lay it aside a while and enquire into the Nature of Prayer wherein that mainly consists and this perhaps may be the best way to lead you out of this Cloud and to clear up the whole Matter Prayer then in its proper Notion is the application of the Heart and Soul unto God with a due sense of the Divine Majesty and an humble Dependence upon him for the supply of all our Wants This is the Nature and Essence of Prayer which you see is no verbal thing but a pious Address of the Heart and Soul unto God Here is nothing of Words nor Expressions that enters this Divine Composition which may be as well and sometimes better done without them than with them But when I told you that God is not to be inform'd by any Words nor to be perswaded by many nor pleas'd with new you ask me What then must we pray without any Words And in another place Must we set down with the Quakers silence and settle in Quietism To which I answer No For there are some times when we may pray either with or without Words as when we are alone and there are times likewise when words are necessary as when we pray with others both these have their proper Seasons When we are alone in our Closet we may breath out our desires unto God either with or without Words as we find most conducing to the inward Piety and Devotion of our Soul And when we are in our Callings we may frequently lift up our Hearts unto God with or without Words and mingle some short Ejaculations with the Affairs and Business of this Life 1 Thes 5.17 which is that Praying continually and without Ceasing enjoyned by the Apostle and is a way of Praying very acceptable and well pleasing unto God But when we pray with others in Publick or Private Words are to be used not by way of Information for God knows our Necessities before we ask much less for Vanity or Ostentation but to help us to joyn in our Petitions to agree in what we ask and to glorifie our Maker with one Heart and one Mouth Rom. 15.6 Now here the known compos'd Words of a Form are far more conducing to this end than the sudden Conceptions and Expressions of free Prayer for by the former Men are acquainted before-hand what they are to ask of God and so may