of David or any other though it be not injoyned but the use of it debitâ cum reverentiâ hath its acceptance there is no reason to question the acceptation of this which is prescribed Let us sincerely perform the dutie and we may confidently trust God with the reward whether expresly annexed or not yet if as Saint Cyprian saith there be a promise Verily verily I say unto you whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name he will give it you how much rather if unto his name we adde his words also Dr. Owen Whether the Spirit of Grace and Supplication be not promised unto all believeers and whether he be not given to inable them to pray both as to the matter and manner Reply All persons that have the grace of the Spirit have not the gift of utterance and of a readie elocution nor is it the proper Office of the Spirit of Grace to dictate words but to quicken and raise the affections The Spirit of God doth not teach believers to despise forms nor alway inable them to solemn devotions without the help of forms They who have their hearts enlarged toward God whose very sighs and groans are accepted may yet like narrow-mouth'd vessels not be inabled to express their desires in a ready composed manner yea there be many believers on earth and glorified Saints in heaven who never were enabled to pray unto God in a more publick solemn manner but by the help of composed forms and Mayer observeth that if a Minister have the Spirit yet there is danger through weakness of memory of omitting things necessary to be prayed for in the congregation of Excursions and running out into Clauses impertinent and idle and of tautologies repeating the same things again and again to the wearying of the hearers and Plutarch observed the like danger in speaking ex tempore long before him But besides all this the Objection lieth as well against the observation of the matter as the form prescribed for if believers are inabled to both they are not obliged to regard either Dr. Owen And if so whether the repetition of the words mentioned by them who have not the Spirit given them for the ends before mentioned be available Reply The repetition of these words by them who have the Spirit but are not alwaies inabled by that Spirit as to the gift of utterance and a ready composure may certainly be available for even they who have the gift of utterance as well as of the Spirit of Prayer may effectually pray unto God in this or in other formes composed by themselves or others and therefore they that have the Grace but want the gift of exercising that Grace externally may also for if the Spirit of God doe inable them to pray effectually in their own formes certainly that Spirit will not withdraw from them when they address themselves to him in that form which was taught us by his beloved Son in whom he is well pleased Dr. Owen And whether Prayer by the Spirit where these words are repeated as to the letters and syllables and order wherein they stand be acceptable to God Reply Prayers by the Spirit of Grace in whatsoever words syllables and order are acceptable yet God is the God of Order also but not of confusion and if the broken expressions of the weakest believer then much more Prayers by the Spirit in the words which our Saviour hath in great Wisedome and order composed and sanctified are acceptable to God there are degrees of acceptation Dr. Owen Whether the prescription of a form of words and the gift of the Spirit of Prayer be consistent Reply When Christ prayed in the words of David and sung a Hymne in the words of David Quere whether the use of a form of words and the gift of the spirit of Prayer be consistent I am sure beyond all scruple that Christ never used any thing in Prayer himself nor commanded it to be used by others but what was highly consistent with the gift of the Spirit and if the use of any one or more forms of Prayer in Scripture not positively injoyned be lawful and consistent with the spirit of Prayer much more that form of words whereof Christ is the prescriber hath a Benjamins portion They who have the spirit of assisting them in their extemporary prayers need not doubt of it when they study and meditate for the composing of one or more formes to be used by themselues and indeed the people who in the Congregations pray unto God in that forme of words in which the Minister goeth before them should never pray with the Spirit if the prescription of a forme of words and the gift of the Spirit of Prayer were not consistent And why may it not be as well questioned whether the Spirit of Grace be consistent with a form of words in the administration of the Sacraments as in Prayer I aver therefore that nothing is more consistent then such a Divine Prescription of a forme of words and the Spirit of Prayer for as much as the prescribed words of God are that Chariot and Jacobs Ladder by which the Spirit of God ordinarily descendeth into the hearts of men and the souls of men ascend up to God and therefore to intimate an inconsistency of these two is as the dashing of the two Tables against each other it is to oppose Martine to Luther and to sowe discord among brethren they have both one Father The gift of the Spirit of Prayer is either Internall which we may call the infused Grace or Externall which is the ability to exercise that Grace which ability is attained per modum habitus acquisiti as an acquired habit by study meditation and frequent exercise so that he who would fitly exercise the Grace of the Spirit is obliged to use such means as God hath appointed to inable him thereunto even as he who would exercise the gift of the Spirit in preaching and this studying and reducing the gift of the Spirit into a form either of Preaching or Praying doth not extinguish but cherish the Grace of the Spirit as Saint Pauls precept to Timothy doth plainly teach Meditate upon these things give thy self wholly to them that thy profiting may appear to all And seeing it is likely that we may serve God better and edifie his people more by our premeditating and studying both the matter and expressions of our Prayers we ought to do it unless we will adventure to appear empty before the Lord and to serve him of that which cost us nothing The truth is there is an immediate infusion and an assistance of the Spirit in an extraordinary manner pretended unto in exemporary Prayers as if there were a dabitur in eâ hor â a present enthusiasme given from above to supersede them from all study and premeditation which Opinion all sober Christians must condemne or they will cast a great prejudice upon the Devotion of all
true devotion there is much difference between the use of a prayer in a known tongue where possibly the expressions and the necessary blessings desired by him may inflame his affections and in an unknown tongue where in all probability no such effect can follow I think if we should preach all our Sermons in Latine and so pray before our people we should do less good upon the unconverted then we may by Gods blessing in English There is utterly a fault as Master Mayer observeth in those Popes that promise pardon for the saying of seven Pater noster's and as many Ave Maria's every day and it is a fault too as he addeth so to detract from this Prayer as to account 〈◊〉 better or not so worthy as a mans own conceived Prayer which is derogatorie and arrogant Dr. Owen Whether innumerable poor souls are not deluded and hardned by satisfying their Consciences with the use of this forme never knowing what it is to pray in the Holy Ghost Reply The right use of this form never deluded or hardned any nor is it easie to think how any that hath in faith and knowledge used this Prayer should not also endeavour for other inlargements Instruct a poore soul in the right use of this and there is no such method in the world to fit him for praying in the Holy Ghost and therefore to oppose the use of this form under a pretence of satisfiing the Conscience therewith to pray in the Holy Ghost is no pious or laudable Artifice as if this Prayer were exclusive of the Grace of the Spirit or as if that Holy Spirit had refused the waters of Siloah that goe softly and chosen to reside in troubled waters and whirle-winds Dr. Owen And whether the asserting this forme of words hath not confirmed many in their Atheisticall blaspheming of the Holy Spirit of God and his Grace in the prayers of his people Reply Cujus contrarium This I dare affirm with equal truth and confidence that not the asserting but the disusing and condemning this form of words hath confirmed many in their Atheistical blaspheming of the holy Spirit of God and his Grace in the Prayers of his People I offer this instance which is notoriously known When a Minister of God of great integritie and abilitie for many such there be beyond all contradiction that use this form cannot repeat this Pryaer but a great part of his auditors in some Congregations instantly conceive an invincible prejudice against both his Person and services as if there were an impossibility of being edified by them Can any good thing come out of Nazareth yea and when some actually withdraw from the Ordinance of Christ as if the Preaching of the Gospel by such men were foolishness indeed this is not far from an Atheistical blaspheming of the Holy Spirit of God and his grace in the Prayers of his People and this effect hath not been produced by the asserting but by the laying aside the use of this form in our Prayers as a fruitless carnall ordinance which hath made too many of our people to conceit of it as so much Collquiutida that maketh all the Service of God unsavourie And in my best observation I could never discover that it was the designe of those that assert this form to cast any contempt upon other well-ordered Devotions although contrarily the practice and pleading against the use of this bringeth a certain disrespect both upon this Forme and upon all other Prayers to which this is annexed But what if the asserting of a commanded duty doe confirme some in causeless prejudices It is better that others be scandalized without our fault then Christ be disobeyed and dishonoured by our fault The preaching of the Gospel is a rock of offence and a savour of death to many shall these evil effects be charged upon the Gospel as the proper products thereof God forbid Indeed the wilfull neglect of an injoyned duty and fixing of contempt upon a Precept of our Saviour and upon the universall practice of his Church in all Ages may make wary Christians jealous of some other practices of such men for we all know they have not the Spirit who despise the Word and it is as well known that to speak against some opinions and practices which in our generation pretend much to the Spirit is neither Atheisticall nor blesphemous I suppose therefore we may safely walke by this rule Not to judge of our duty by the event but by the lawfulness thereof and the authority of its prescription If any draw an ill conclusion from good premises it is his fault not ours When Christ hath commanded a duty we must doe it though all the world should be offended at it Fiat justitia ruat coelum Dr. Owen And whether the repetition of these words after men have been long praying for the things contained in them as the manner of some is be not so remote from any pretence or colour of warrant in Scripture as that it is in plain terms ridiculous Reply That our Saviour intended we should use other Prayers besides this I doubt not and what warrant the use of this hath in Scripture let every Christian Reader judge I am sure the reviling of this Practice hath none And now it is too apparent who it is that casteth reproch on this Prayer when the repetition of it is in plain terms pronounced ridiculous that stomach must be very foul that nauseates manna it self It cannot be adjudged ridiculous in our Saviour to prescribe this form twice and how cometh it to be so to use it once It was not ridiculous in him to use the same words three times on the same occasion in a great agony nor in David to bless God six and twentie times in the same words annexed to other Nor is it adjudged ridiculous to use frequent variations of words on the same matter in our Prayers nor when we have gone over the heads of our Sermons more then once to recount them again in our Prayers and yet when we have prayed to God and being conscious of the imperfections and failings of our Prayers both as to the matter and manner doe continue them in Christs own words as a supply of those defects this is pronounced in plain termes ridiculous The Prophet speaketh of some that have swords in their lips such a sword is this thorough the sides of Christs Ministers teacheth his own I end this with a note of Master Mayer As a wrestler saith he having used his best skill and strength to over come in wrestling yet finding the getting of the victory to be very hard he reinforceth himselfe at the last with all his might force and skill together that be may carry away the prize So the Christian man wrestling as Jacob with God by Prayer in the end reinforceth himselfe in this Prayer that he may not depart unblessed Dr. Owen When Master Beedle or any on his behalfe hath answered
for it both matter order and words for though it be a gift of the Spirit yet it is not to be expected that it should suddenly be infused into us without any premeditation of our own no more then the gift of preaching for which the ablest Ministers are bound to prepare themselves with diligence and study there being not any ground for a man to expect more immediate supplies from above in the duty of Prayer then in that of preaching And page 15. Because there will be sometime a necessity that our affections should follow and be stirred up by our expressions which is especially to be aimed at when we pray in publick in reference to those that joyn with us and will very often fall out likewise in our secret devotions therefore it is requisite that a man should be alwayes furnished with such premeditated forms as may be most effectual to this end namely to excite the affections and to this purpose if those heads which will be alwaies pertinent and of continual necessity were comprehended in some set forms studied with care and diligence they might perhaps be more serviceable for the stirring up our faith and affections then they could otherwise be if they did proceed onely from our own sudden conceptions and page 17. Such crude notions and confused matter as some by their neglect in this kind will vent doth rather nauseate and flat the devotion then excite it page 18. There is nothing more unsuitable to the solemnity of this duty to that reverence which we owe to the Divine Majesty then to be speak him in a loose careless empty manner And to that objection from Matthew 10. 19. Take not thought how or what ye shall speake for it shall be given you in that same houre He answers When men may use the common means it is a great presumption to depend upon extraordinary helps such as were there promised to assist them in special services The son of Sirach saith Before thou prayest prepare thy self and be not as one that tempts the Lord he that rusheth upon this duty without using the common means of fitting himself for it doth tempt God Of this those are guilty who depend so much upon immediate infusion as to neglect all previous study This de jure concerning the lawfulness and great conveniency of formes The matter o fact and the constant use of them in the Church hath been sufficiently testified already from those ancient Liturgies before named many of which though as all Protestants grant have been lamentably adulterated by the additions and alterations of late Sophisters doe yet retain manifest impressions of antiquity so that though it may be disputed concerning them as about Theseus his ship at Athens whether it were the same ship or not every part almost being changed yet it was granted that such a ship there had once been Even so certain it is there were Liturgies in those Primitive times though we cannot affirm of any one Liturgy now commended to us under those Apostolical names that it is compleatly the same as it was of old Rivet indeed reckoneth those Liturgies among zizania or tares which were sowne by the enemy while the husbandmen slept but certainly the husbandman had sown good seed in those fields though the enemy tooke the advantage of sowing suddenly after them the foundation was good though ungodly men built hay and stubble on it St. Augustine observed many corruptions in these publick devotions in his time but yet highly commended the praiers of the Church Utinam tardi corde c. I would to God that they who are of a slow heart would so hear our disputes that they would also consider our prayers which the Church hath alwayes had and will have unto the worlds end The Magdeburgenses have this observation from St. Cyprian that the rite observed in the publick Prayers of the Church was this The Priest at the beginning of Prayer did stir up the people to a devout calling on God saying Sursum corda Lift up your hearts and they answered We lift them up unto the Lord and they adde Formulas quasdam precationum sine dubio habuerant They had without doubt certain forms of Prayer Origen hath some remains of those ancient forms he sayes they had 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ordained Prayers to some of which he often alludes as on Jeremy Frequenter in oratione dicimus c. We often say in our prayers Grant this O heavenly Father grant us a portion with thy Prophets and the Apostles of thy Christ. Eusebius saith that Constantine had 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for his Army and Family and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 studied premeditated and appointed prayers The Councel of Laodicea speaks of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 A Liturgy of Prayer and that at the entrance into the Church first the Prayer of the Catechumeni was said then that of the Penitents and lastly that of the Faithful And the Councel of Carthage ordained thus Quicunque preces aliunde desumit c. Whoever did frame any other prayers should first consult with his more learned brethren The Milevitan Councel took care that the Prayers of the Church and no others should be used Then St. Basil Though we are bid to pray concinually saith he yet may we not despise the prayers of the Church And Concil Gangren hath made one Canon to this end Ne orationes Ecclesiae contemnantur That the Prayers of the Church be not contemned The chief Objection against the use of forms of Prayer is for ever silenced by Doctor Preston The Objection is this That in stinted Prayers the Spirit is straitned when a man is tied to a form then he shall have his Spirit as it were bounded and limited that he cannot go beyond that which is prescribed and therefore say they it is reason a man should be left to more liberty as he is in conceived Prayer and not tied to a strict form To this I answer saith he that even those men that are against this and that use this reason they do the same thing dayly in the congregation for when another prayes that is a set form to him that hears it I say it is a set form for put the case that he which is the hearer and doth attend another praying suppose that his spirit be more inlarged it is a straitning of him he hath no more liberty to go out he is bound to keep his mind intent upon that which the other prayeth and therefore if that were a sufficient reason that a man might not use a set form because the spirit is straitned a man should not hear another pray though it be a conceived Prayer because in that case his spirit is limited it may be that the hearer hath a larger heart a great deal then he that speaks and prayes so that there is a bounding straitning and limiting of the Spirit to him and therefore that reason
which the Doctor addeth viz. that God calleth them to fervent Supplication as he should inable them to deal with him doth not overthrow but rather confirm the Prophets prescribing a form of words to be used for seeing Gods ordinary way of inabling his people was by directions given to his Prophets on their behalf by whose Ministrie the Lord puts words in their mouth as here and in Joel 2. It had been great presumption in them to have neglected the dispensation of the Spirit by the Prophet which with great Faith and confidence they might have used in the prescribed words and to have expected it by an immediate impulse on their own spirits in an extraordinary manner Dr. Owen And though the Apostles never prayed for any thing but what they were for the substance directed to by this Prayer of our Saviour yet we doe not finde that ever they repeated the very words here mentioned or once commanded or prescribed the use of them to any of the Saints in their dayes whom they exhorted to pray so fervently and earnestly Reply This Argument concludeth nothing being meerly Negative and it would certainly brand the Apostles with a note of disobedience as well for not observing the heads and matter of this Prayer as for omitting the form for we doe not hear or read of any publick or solemn Prayer of theirs wherein the matter and method was fully observed may we therefore conclude that they followed neither matter nor form If any one defect be enough to denominate a thing evil and nothing is good but what hath all its due circumstances attending I doe not see how those more solemne publicke Prayers can be so highly excellent which are hudled up without any respect to this either as to matter method or form and perhaps carry not the sense of more then one or two Petitions though they exceed it almost an hundred times in length But as for Apostolical practice there are many credible authorities among the ancients to induce us to believe that they did frequently use it as Saint Augustine Gregory c. nor can the bare denial of any one or more modern and prejudiced persons overthrow their testimonies or at least such a way of Arguing would raze many fundamentals of our Religion As for their commanding or prescribing the use of these words to others I cannot think so uncharitably of the Apostles as to conceive they omitted this dutie seeing our Savior gave them in charge To teach the people all things whatsoever he commanded them And the Apostle saith Hee had kept backe nothing that was profitable unto them And as in criminal Causes where there wanteth cleare Evidence concerning matter of Fact Judgement may justly be pronounced upon evident and pregnant Circumstances concerning the same So in this cause also Dr. Owen Nor in any of the rules and directions that are given for our praying either in reference to our selves or him by whom we have access to God is the use of these words at any time in the least recorded to us or recalled to mind as a matter of dutie Reply This was done twice by our Saviour in a most solemne manner and what need there should be of a third repetition by the Disciples I know not when the master had so authoritatively prescribed it what weight could the servants Fiat add doubless this double command was enough to oblige them nor will any good servant expect more then a twofold injunction to doe his dutie It is safer by far in a business of this nature to obey then dispute the commands of our Superiours Dr. Owen Our Saviour saith when ye pray say Our Father c. on supposition of the sense contended for and that a form of words is prescribed I aske whether we may at any time pray and not say so Reply Without doubt we may Our Saviour bids when we pray to enter into our closets Quere whether we may at any time pray and not enter into our closets Who doubts of this Again our Saviour bids us when we pray to observe the matter and method of this Prayer Quere whether we may pray at any time and not intirely observe the matter and method of this Prayer yes we doe and may both alter the method and omit many heads of the matter in our occasional Petitions Affirmative precepts bind us to the actual performance of such duties as are injoyned by them onely pro hic nunc as occasion shall require But yet when I consider that this Prayer is by our Saviour adapted to publick devotion and was given to his Disciples to be used as a Cognizance to whom they did belong I am somewhat of the Doctors mind that we may not at any time pray publickly and not say so Dr Owen Q. Whether the saying of these words be a part of the worship of God Reply That words are a part of the worship of God who requireth the service of the outward as well as of the inward man is undeniable and what words can lay better claim to this priviledge then Christs own If the varying of the matter of this Prayer into expressions of our own be to worship God then much more to present the same matter in Christs words for our alteration of the words may invert the method and change the sense and certainly the use of these very words other requisites in Prayer being adjoyned is as solemne and acceptable a service as any we can doe God and our Saviour Jesus Christ. When God bid the people Hos. 14. 2. to take with them words and the Priests in Joel 2. 17. to say Spare thy people c. it would sound harsh to make a Quere whether the saying of those prescribed words were a part of the worship of God If the praysing of God and praying unto God in the words of David be a part of Gods worship as undeniably it is then much more the praying unto God in the prescribed words of Christ. Dr. Owen Or whether any promise of acceptation be annexed to the saying so Reply Our Saviour was never yet reputed so hard a Master as to injoyn a Dutie and not to imply or express a promise of acceptation Every precept virtually carrieth a reward with it In keeping of them saith the Psalmist there is great reward What better promise then the forgiveness of sins yet this Christ annexeth to the due performance of the dutie in one of the Petitions For if ye forgive men their trespasses your heavenly Father will also forgive you and why is that Parable in Saint Luke adjoyned so immediately to this Prayer which our Saviour concludeth thus Aske and it shall be given you seeke and ye shall finde c. but to assure us that God will accept of their devotions who importune him their heavenly Father according to the manner and matter prescribed And when there is no Psalm or Prayer in Scripture either