to express our Desires in or enables us to make one 't is sufficient and we ought to be thankful 7. In confirmation of this Account of the Spirit of Prayer we may further observe 1. That no Worship is Acceptable to God that is not offer'd to Him in Spirit and Truth John iv 24 and therefore the Scripture recommends to us prayers in and by the Spirit but that praying with the Spirit doth not signifie extemporary unpremeditated prayers or exclude Forms will appear from 1 Cor. xiv 15 I will pray with the Spirit I will pray with the Vnderstanding I will sing with the Spirit I will sing with the Vnderstanding also Here we find singing with the Spirit as well as praying with it and whoever sings otherwise doth not worship God as he ought but tho' we are obliged to sing with the Spirit yet we must and ought to sing in the Congregation with a set Form of Words and therefore for the same reason tho' we pray with the Spirit we may pray by a set and prepared Form of Words The most spiritual Songs consist of a set Form of imposed Words and so may the most spiritual Prayers Praying therefore with the Spirit in this place is so far from meaning or being an Argument for the Use of extemporary unpremeditated prayers that it is rather an Argument against them For either we are obliged by it to sing to God in extemporary Hymns or we are not obliged to pray to Him in extemporary Prayers since it is Unreasonable to interpret singing with the Spirit in one sense and praying with the Spirit in a contrary 2. And to confirm this further we find the most spiritual Persons addressing themselves to God in Forms so did Moses so did David as I observed before and so did our Saviour himself on the Cross when in his Agony he repeated the first Verse of Psal. xxii in Syriack and as some believe the whole Psalm by which Act He recommendeth to us Forms of Prayer in his Dying Breath as the most proper means of expressing our condition to God and as most suitable to the Divine Majesty and therefore praying in the Spirit Ephes. vi 18 Praying in the holy Ghost Jude 20. and with the Spirit 1 Cor. xiv 15 signifie praying with Grace in our Hearts by the Assistance and Motion of the Holy Spirit And a man may as well pray with Grace in his Heart when he prays by a Form as sing with Grace in his Heart when he sings by a Form 3. We have a Promise that God's Spirit will assist us with this Grace in our Hearts but we have no Promise that He will help us to Words without the Use of Forms as will appear from Rom. viii 26 The Spirit also helpeth our Infirmities for we know not what we should pray for as we ought but the Spirit it self maketh Intercession for us with groanings that cannot be uttered those inward motions in the Heart called here groanings are that Grace in the Heart with which we ought to pray and to which the Spirit of God doth and indeed only can help us and to pray with this Grace is to pray in and with the Spirit whether we use words or no and if we do use them whether we reduce them into a Form first or pour them forth as they present themselves to our Minds but we have no Promise that the Holy Ghost will always furnish us with fit words on all occasions and therefore ought not to presume that He will 4. T is certain that he did furnish some with such words for we find both Prayers and Hymns dictated immediately by him of which we have Examples in the Hymns of the Blessed Virgin and Zacharias and in the Song or Prayer of Simeon and in Acts iv 24 But then it is manifest that this was an extraordinary Gift of God and a part of Prophecy and we may not depend on the holy Ghost for this Gift more then for any other Extraordinary Gift till it be made appear that it was to continue alwaies in the Church and to be communicated to All the Children of God Praying and singing the Praises of God are Duties incumbent on all Christians but we are no more obliged to pray Extemporary Prayers from any Example of inspired Men in Scripture than to sing Extemporary Hymns from the like Examples to which yet none I think pretend 5. 'T is very observable that even those who composed their Prayers and Hymns by immediate inspiration did not generally offer them to God in the Congregation till they had first reduced them into a Form Thus David first penned his Psalms and then delivered them to be sung 1. Chron. xvi 7 and 't is probable the Prophets 1. Cor. xiv 26 did the same for they are supposed every one to have a Psalm a Doctrine a Tongue a Revelation c. that is to have them ready and reduced into Form for the use of the Church when they came together That this is the meaning of having a Psalm c. in this place will appear very probable not only from the words which naturally import this and can hardly be otherwise interpreted but likewise from the Apostles making a difference between what these Prophets had prepared and what was revealed immediately at the time of their being together vers 30. If any thing be revealed to another that siteth by let the first hold his peace Which shews that these Psalms c. were to give place to such as were immediately inspired So far were these inspired Men from countenancing an extemporary unpremeditated way of serving God except where there was an immediate Revelation for it and so utterly void of Scripture-proof is this great principle of the Dissenters Worship that the Spirit of prayer is given to every one of the Faithfull to enable them to conceive with the Heart and express with their Tongues their necessities to God without a Form of Prayer 8. It lies therefore my Friends on your Teachers who are of this persuasion to produce plain Scripture for your principles or else to confess that you have laid aside Prayers by Forms commanded by God and practised by holy Men in Scriptures to make room for this way of Praying of Men's own invention But further that place Eccl. v. 1.2 seems to me to afford a strong Argument against such Prayers When thou goest to the House of God Be not rash with thy Mouth and let not thy Heart be hasty to utter any thing before God for God is in Heaven and thou upon Earth Therefore let thy words be few It is hard to say what it is to be rash with our Mouths or hasty to utter any thing before God if it be not rashnesh to trust the expressing all our desires to such uncertain and unpremeditated words as our invention suggests unto us when we come before him which as I have shewed the Scriptures give us no promise of being supplied to us
the way of his own appointment and complain of it as dull and tedious so Mal. i. 13 Ye said also what a weariness is it and ye snuffed at it And the reason is because the way of God's appointing is always more Spiritual in respect of that which is of Man 's own Invention and therefore it cannot be so easy or agreable to the Carnal minds of Men. 4. It ought therefore to be considered by you when people complain of being dull and unaffected by meer Hearing the Word of God read whether this do not truly proceed from a Carnal and Wicked Heart estranged from the Spirit of God and whether the reason that Sermons please and affect more then a Chapter out of the Bible be not the novelty and outward Ornaments of them rather than the Spiritualness of the discourse We are sure St. Paul supposeth such as are not affected with the Words of God to be meer Natural or Carnal Men 1 Cor. ii 13 where having taken Notice of speaking Not in Words which Man's Wisdom Teacheth but which the Holy Ghost Teacheth he adds but the Natural Man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God For they are foolishness to him neither can he know them for they are spiritually discerned From whence it clearly follows that the reason why Men do not understand or receive the things of God delivered to them in the Words of Scripture dictated by the Holy Ghost is because they are meer Natural Men and want the Spirit of God Whoever therefore is more affected or delights more in a Sermon then in a Chapter of the Bible has reason to look into his Heart and examine himself whether he have the Spirit of God Those mentioned in Scripture that had that Spirit delighted in the Law of God It was the joy of their Hearts they preferred it to all things they meditate in it Day and Night And were so far from turning it out of their Publick Assemblies that the Hearing it read was a great part of their Worship Whoever therefore lays aside this practise have reason to suspect that they want that Temper and Spirit with which those Holy Men were inspired and notwithstanding all their pretences to a more then ordinary Spiritualness and Reformation are little advanced above the Natural Men that neither receive or relish the things of God at least not as they ought I find it alledged as a Sixth pretence for not Reading the Word of God in your Meetings That a Child may read them and perform this Duty and then what need it take up the Ministers time To which there needs no other answer then that the Service of God is not less his or the less to be valued because it is easy On the contrary 't is the more sinfull to neglect it the more easy it is Ministers are not set apart for difficult things only which others cannot perform but they are to execute the Office that God has imposed on them whether it be easy or difficult As for Example God has Commanded his Ministers to Baptise In the Name of the Father c. Now to pour on Water in this Form is no such difficult thing but a Child or any else might perform it Neither is there any greater difficulty in the Sacrament of the Lord's-Supper as to the Essentials of it Yet I suppose it will be granted by all that it belongs only to the Minister's Office to perform these and that they must not delegate them or any part of them to others or omit them because they are easy And that they have a quite different Sacredness Efficacy and Force when performed by a Person Ordained and Authorized to this purpose then when performed by another and the same Rule holds in offering up our Prayers and in Reading the Scriptures A Man may read them at home a Child may read them in Church but they have not the same assurance of Efficacy and a blessing as when they come from the Mouth of a Person set a-part by God's Ordinance for this purpose I make no doubt but the Experience as I have said of most Christians from what they have felt in their own Hearts in Hearing the Word of God publickly read will attest the Truth of this Now if you my Friends know and own this as I hope the generality of you do you must see the unreasonableness of this pretence If any of you do not know it you must give me leave to say that I fear it is from ignorance and not considering the Scriptures And 't is your Teachers Duty to inform you better Reading the Scripture being allowed by their Directory to be a part of God's Publick Worship We have this Rule there in express words That it is requisite that all the Canonical Books be read over in order that the people may be better acquainted with the whole Body of Scriptures Now if you can shew but one Meeting in the last Age in which this has been duly performed we will not accuse you so generally of violating God's Command in this point but if there be not one such Meeting you ought to consider how you will excuse your selves before God And I think it necessary here to observe to you how insignificant general Rules are without descending to a particular Determination of Circumstances Here we have in your Dirâ—ctory a general Rule such as it is for Reading the Scripture but for want of being particular as the Calender in our Common-Prayer-Book is I question if it yet was ever once observed or indeed that it is Practical to observe it And it is so almost in every other general Rule and therefore to leave the Service of God to be Ordered by such general Rules only is in effect to Teach people to neglect it V. These are all the Reasons that I can possibly think of or have heard urged for Your practice in this point I will not say but others may be pretended but I must profess that I do not remember to have met with them if I had I would have given them a due consideration I am perswaded that they cannot be of greater force than those I have examined And that they can never excuse You in this matter from manifest breach of God's Command in preferring Mens Inventions to his Institutions After all I must profess to You That I look on all these to be only Pretences and that the true Reason of Mens Negligence in this Duty is given us 2 Tim. iv 3 For the time will come saith the Apostle when they will not endure sound Doctrine but after their own Lusts shall they heap up to themselves Teachers having itching Ears An itching Ear here can signifie nothing so properly as an Ear that loves Novelty and Variety Because therefore our Church gives the people little that is New in her Prayers or Reading the Scriptures but retains a Form of sound Words in the one and the plain Word of God in the other Hence
the Man of God When such a person by the Inspiration of the holy Ghost used and left to be used by us in our Supplications such a set and prepared Form of Words we ought not to doubt but that manner of Address is acceptable to God 3. The third part of Prayer is Intercession in the behalf of others Now Blessing is an eminent sort of Intercession and for the use of a set Form of Words in this we have likewise the Command of God Numb vi 23 On this wise ye shall bless the Children of Israel saying unto them The Lord bless thee and keep thee c. Here we have not onely a Blessing but an earnest Intercession with God for his people and the Form and Words prescribed by Himself which were not to be used by mean ignorant people who are only now supposed by some to need the help of Forms but by Aaron and his Sons the Chief Priests From which we may be assured That God approves that manner of Address in our Blessings and Intercessions for one another not onely from mean people but from the greatest 4. The fourth part of Prayer consisteth in Petitions for averting evil commonly called Deprecation and for this purpose we have several Forms prescribed by God Joel i. 14 Gather the Elders and all the Inhabitants of the Land into the House of the Lord your God and say unto the Lord Alas for the day the day of the Lord is at hand c. We have God's Commandment for another Form Joel ii 17 Let the Priests the Ministers of the Lord weep between the Porch and the Altar and let them say Spare thy people O Lord and give not thine heritage to reproach c. From whence it clearly follows that God approves the use of a Form in this part of Prayer tho' commonly the most earnest and importunate and such as seems least to admit of being bounded by a Form so that we have the Approbation and Commandment of God for the use of a set Form of Words in all the parts of Prayer II. And accordingly we find Holy Men of God tho' full of Wisdom and of his Spirit using the same set Form of Prayer always on the same occasion Thus the Scriptures inform us concerning Moses Num. x. 35 When the Ark set forward Moses said Rise up Lord and let thine Enemies be scattered and let them that hate thee flee before thee And when it rested he said Return O Lord unto the many Thousands of Israel From whence it appears that God approves the use of one set constant Form of Words in our Prayers as long as the occasion of repeating them is the same for I presume none will suspect it was for want of Words or of the Spirit of Prayer that Moses confined himself to this Form I shall add further that the whole Book of Psalms is a Collection of Prayers of all sorts And there are few of them but what are most Excellent Forms of Prayer expressed in such pathetick significant and moving words that we have great reason to thank God for furnishing us with them and which we can never hope to equal by any of our own invention such are the 4 5 6 7 9 10 12 c. On this account they were used by the Jews as the constant Service and Liturgy performed in their Temple as we may gather from what I formerly quoted 2 Chron. xxix 30. III. But perhaps some may think these Commands and Examples of set Forms of Prayer not to be a sufficient Warrant to Christians because they are taken out of the Old Testament before the Spirit was poured out in so plentiful a measure as under the Gospel I shall therefore proceed to examine the Commands and Examples of the New Testament and here 1. I think it is certain that our Saviour and his Apostles prayed by a Form for they joyned in the Worship of the Temple and Synagogues which consisted in Psalms as I have already shewed and in some certain Forms of Prayers added to them and constantly used in their daily Service as we learn from those that give an Account of the Jewish Worship at that time Now our Saviour and his Apostles being frequently present at their Service both in the Temple and Synagogues 't is manifest they approved the manner of Addressing themselves to God in a set Form of Words 2. But our Saviour has put this matter out of all dispute with impartial Men by prescribing a Form to his Disciples when they desired him to teach them to pray as John taught his Disciples For we find his way of Teaching them was not by directing them to wait for the impulses of the Spirit and immediate Inspiration from God of what they were to offer up to him We do not find him saying When ye pray speak what shall then come into your minds or what shall be given you in that hour without taking thought about what they should say as He did in another case that is when they should be brought before Governours and Kings for his sake Mat. x. 19 But in addressing themselves to God he prescribed them a Form of Words and Commanded them to use it Luke xi 2 And he said unto them When ye pray say Our Father which art in Heaven c. Here is an express Command of Christ to his Disciples to use these Words when they pray Our Father c. A Command for the use of a Form so plain that it is impossible to express it in clearer terms 'T is not to be doubted but Religious Persons among the Jews offer'd up constantly prayers to God We see it in David Psal. lv 17 and in Daniel Chap. vi 10 And no doubt the Disciples of our Saviour were not wanting in this Duty nor in skill to perform it since we find that other devout Persons of their time had their hours of Prayer as we see in Acts iii. 1 Therefore what they desired of our Saviour was not to teach them absolutely or in general to pray but to teach them to pray as John also taught his Disciples that is to give them a Form of Prayer proper to His Institution as they saw the Disciples of Moses and John had proper to theirs Upon which our Saviour gave them the Lord's-Prayer as a summary of the main points of his Doctrine and as a constant badge of their being his Disciples As if he should have said When ever you offer up to God your usual Prayers which Religious Custom has taught you as Jews and Disciples of Moses or of John whether in Secret or Publick add this always to your other prayers for a continual Remembrance to you of those Duties Priviledges and Qualifications which belong to you as My Disciples and as a means of obtaining Grace from your Heavenly Father to enable you to persevere in them The Lords-Prayer is therefore a badge of Our Profession imposed by Christ himself and to be used by Us
and the mischiefs that each of them have or may hereafter produce It is hardly conceivable that the forbidding the use of some particular Meats should have so many ill effects as the forbidding Forms of prayer has had already Yet it is observable how St. Paul judges of that Doctrine 1 Tim. iv 1 In the latter times saith he some shall depart from the Faith giving heed to seducing Spirits and Doctrines of Devils Forbidding to Marry and to abstain from Meats which God hath Created to be received with Thanksgiving You see here St. Paul counts it a departure from the Faith and a Doctrine of Devils to forbid as unlawful in it self any sort of Meat which God has Created for the use of Man and if it be so Criminal to Teach any sort of Meat to be unclean when God has not forbidden it then sure to Teach a Form of Prayer to be unlawful when God has commanded it must be a very ill Doctrine And this consideration alone ought to make those who maintain it or any such Doctrine whereby they are obliged to condemn their Brethren as practising unlawful things to examine it carefully and impartially by the word of God lest they be imposed on by Seducing Spirits The great Design of the Devil is to bring us into an intire subjection to his will But when he despairs of this his next Attempt is to share with God in our Obedience and impose new Commands of his Own upon us as if they were God's and so to procure himself to be obey'd This he doth most successfully by giving them an appearance of Religion and of more than ordinary strictness Thus in St. Paul's time under colour of Mortification he forbad Meats and Marriage as Vnlawful which God had allowed speaking Lies in Hypocrisie and under shew of Religion And thus 't is to be feared he has prevailed on some under colour of greater spirituality to abstain from Forms of Prayer as Unlawful which God has enjoyned And here it is very remarkable that where-ever the Devil gains this point with men and brings them to believe a thing to be forbidden by God which he has not forbidden he soon brings a super-added Command of his Own in Competition with some of God's and prevails with them to prefer his Commands to God's and so plungeth them into direct Disobedience which was his Design at first Thus when he had prevailed with Men to abstain from Marriage they soon fell not only to Commit Fornication but even in some cases to Allow it rather than Marriage as the Papists do And by perswading Men to abstain from Forms of Prayer as Unlawful he has deprived them in many places of all opportunity of Publick Worship and made them choose rather not to serve God at all in Publick than with a Form which is the case of many Thousands now in this Kingdom who worship God publickly no where But 3. This Doctrine of the Unlawfulness of praying by Forms is no such indifferent thing that we may safely indulge Men in their own sense about it Since it is very apt to puff them up and make them take false measures in judging of their own Condition and of the influence of God's Spirit upon them We know that all good Men have the Spirit of God and are guided and influenced by it in the whole tenor of their Lives we make no doubt but they are assisted by Him in their prayers but no less in forgiving an Injury or resisting a Temptation and his influence on a good Man's Mind is rather greater and more sensible in these and other Acts of Religion than in Prayer Love Joy Peace Long-suffering Gentleness Goodness Faith Meekness Temperance are the Fruits of the Spirit Gal. v. 22 And it is principally by these we ought to conclude that we have that Spirit But the Opinion of the Unlawfulness of Forms of Prayer on a perswasion that the Spirit of God enables every Child of God to conceive with the Heart and express with the Mouth suitable Desires entitles every one to God's Spirit in some measure that is able to express himself in apt and fluent Words tho' without the other Graces of the Spirit and exposes every one to despair that is not able to do this as looking on himself to be destitute of the Spirit tho' otherwise meek humble and charitable and endowed with such Graces as are much wore certain signs of his presence Nay so far are many deluded by this Opinion that they judge themselves or others Children of God and in his Favour according as they are more or less endowed with this Gift without respect to other Qualifications And I dare appeal to your selves Whether some very Immoral Persons guilty of gross and scandalous Crimes have not been eminent for this Gift of Prayer And whether such persons are not apt to flatter themselves that they are the Children of God and endowed with his Spirit notwithstanding all their Wickedness And it is impossible either to convince these persons of their mistake or to comfort poor ignorant people dejected only for want of this Gift whilst they are possessed with this Opinion of the Unlawfulness of Forms Which in the 4th place ought not to be countenanced or indulged as an indifferent thing because it has been a great hindrance to secret Devotion Every Christian ought at least twice a day to address himself to God in secret prayer but a great part of the World cannot do it without a Form Children and ignorant persons are at a loss for Words and even other people are often not able to find them readily especially when wearied dull or indisposed as is sometimes the condition of the the best Christians this makes secret prayer at least a constant regular course of it uneasie to most that are absolutely against all Use of Forms and it occasions too many to neglect it which otherwise would not And as for Children and ignorant people amongst those of this Perswasion I am well assured many of them never bow their Knees in secret to God and several of those that are grown up are forced to speak aloud or cannot pray at all which is against the nature of secret Prayer and exposes not only the Persons that use it to the censure of Hypocrisy but the Duty to Contempt 'T is on this account that the pious Custom of Training up Young People to a constant course of Devotion in their morning and evening secret Prayers is too universally laid aside among you as I have found by experience and for the truth of the Observation I dare appeal to all of the Dissenters On the contrary I am well assured that there cannot be a more effectual or easy method to revive and continue this regular and constant use of secret prayers than to oblige every one to some certain Forms every Morning and Evening which they may not omit whatever other prayers they use But this can never be done whilst the opinion of
in thine Heart that God hath raised Him from the Dead thou shalt be saved For with the Heart Man believes unto Righteousness and with the Mouth Confession is made unto salvation To profess solemnly that we expect no Happiness but from the good pleasure of God and that we freely acquiesce in his Provisions for us is no small Evidence of the submission of our Minds to God and upon that account may be reckoned an Instance of External Worship and accordingly many of the Psalms contain such Confessions 3. You sit generally at your Publick Prayers 4. At the holy Sacrament you sit not only whilst you Receive but likewise at the Thanksgiving and Blessing before and your Directory imposes this posture on Communicants tho' contrary to Holy Scripture in respect of that part that concerns the Prayer and Thanksgiving and without any Command or so much as Example from Scripture in respect of the sitting at the time of Receiving 5. Too many of your perswasion condemn us who conform to God's Word in these particulars as guilty of Superstition and endeavour to render our Conformity ridiculous not being content to lay aside the Commands of God themselves but endeavouring likewise to condemn and scoff at the Observation of them in Vs. In short I entreat you to consider That you have not any one Visible Act of Adoration amongst you in your Assemblies except we reckon in this Number That your Men Vncover their Heads at Prayer and yet even this is not required by your Directory III. And now let me a while Examine calmly with you the Pretences I have met with for laying aside this part of God's Worship for it is not probable that any would banish Adoration out of their Assemblies and alledge no Reason for their doing so 1. First therefore I find that place of Scripture produced to this purpose John iv 24 God is a Spirit and they that worship Him must worship Him in Spirit and in Truth Some think that all Bodily Worship is here forbidden and that only the Worship of the Spirit or Mind is required of us under the Gospel Upon this some have declared against all Churches or separate places for Worship Others are against all Bodily VVorship Others against all Sacraments Others against all Vocal Prayers Praises and Thanksgivings And even in the Apostle's time some were against all Visible Assemblies And indeed if we understand this place as some do that all Bodily Worship is excluded by it and that it is sufficient to Worship God in our Spirits or Minds only I do not see but all these are in the right and those who pretend to be above Ordinances and worship God no-where are most conformable to this Rule and next to them the silent Meetings of the Quakers without Sacraments without Vocal Prayers or Praises are the most spiritual service For if other Dissenters think Bodily Worship such as Bowing Kneeling c. Unlawful or Unnecessary because they are Acts of the Body and unfit on that account to be offered to God who is a Spirit why may not the Quakers omit the Sacraments and the Words of the Mouth which are Outward Things as well as the other Nay why should not outward Teaching or Preaching cease Since the Spirit is a sufficient Teacher and has promised us Heb. viii 10 I will put my Laws into their Minds and write them in their Hearts Vers. 11. And they shall not teach every Man his Neighbour and every Man his Brother c. The Principle and Reasoning is the same in all these and will justifie the Silent Meetings of the Quakers nay the Extravagance of Those that pretend to be above all Ordinances as well as the Irreverence of other Dissenters But we ought to interpret Scripture so as one place may not contradict another and since the Holy Scriptures shew us that God requires our Vocal Prayers and Praises our Visible Sacraments and Adoration we ought not to interpret worshiping in the Spirit so as to exclude these but rather conclude that they may be offered up to God in such a manner as to become proper for spiritual VVorship or God would never have required them When therefore our Saviour represents the Worship He taught the World as a Worship in Spirit and Truth his meaning doubtless is not to exempt us from worshiping his Father with our Bodies whereof He Himself has given us an Example but to teach us That the Outward Acts of Worship that we pay to God are only Acceptable to Him when they proceed from and are accompanied with a hearty submission of our Souls and that every Act is more or less Acceptable as it has more or less of our Hearts and Affections in it But that Circumstances of place and the like give us no Advantage and are of no value towards making our Worship Acceptable This meaning of the words directly answers our Saviour's design which was to shew the Samaritan Woman that the time was coming that the Worship offered to God under the Gospel would be nothing more acceptable for being offered at Jerusalem or Mount-Gerezim or any other place But the Heart being right all places were alike Which was directly contrary to the Jewish Law that allowed no Sacrifice or Oblation to be acceptable to God that was not offered at the Temple and consequently their Worship derived its acceptance from the place and not from the Heart alone of him that offered it We affirm therefore as our Saviour has here taught us that it is only from the Heart or Spirit that our Worship becomes acceptable to God and that the time or place where it is offered contributes nothing to our acceptance But that in whatever place at whatever time in whatsoever posture we offer up our Spirits and Hearts to God we are accepted by him But then we say likewise a Man who neglects the Assemblies of Christians cannot have a good Heart towards God because he breaks his Command that such as do not take care to provide a convenient and decent place and set it apart for Christians to meet and to perform God's Worship in cannot have a value for it that such as neglect the Holy Sacraments want Faith in His promises as well as Obedience to His Commands and that those who neglect to Worship him with their Body and to pay outward Reverence and Adoration when they come into his presence must want inward submission of their minds because they do not approach as he requires If a Man truly Worship God in his Spirit it will oblige him if able to perform these outward Acts and if he be not able God doth not require them It is in this as in Faith Jam. ii 18 A Man may say Thou hast Faith and I have Works Shew me thy Faith without thy Works and I will shew thee my Faith by my Works After the same manner a Man may say Thou Worshipest God inwardly in Heart and Spirit and I Worship him outwardly and in
effectually upon you then those carnal and servile motives do on others Let me therefore earnestly encourage and intreat you to do it more and more and that you will endeavour to become all things to all Men and decline none of those Arts which are allowable when applied to gain the people to Truth and Holiness But very wicked when employed to divide and seduce them 5. Let me put you in mind That you are Ministers of the Gospel and not of a Party And therefore it concerns you to mind the common interest of Holiness and Religion more then those differences that are often of little concern in themselves and are insisted on only as the occasions and badges of those people who being resolved to seperate themselves are obliged to take up little differences for a distinction The less you meddle with these disputes it is commonly the better And indeed it is not prudent to mention them till Mens minds be fitted and prepared by a true sense of the great Duties of Religion And then the best way perhaps will be to shew of what little weight they are to cause or justify divisions or quarrels amongst Christians I am well aware that it may be objected to us that whilst we press the great Duties of the first and second Table and spend our pains and diligence in defending our common Christianity against Papists Socinians Deists and Atheists those that are our Adversaries in these lesser points have made their advantage of Our being employed against the common Enemy to undermine us with the people nay that some of them have even joined with those Enemies to pull down Our Constitution But yet I persuade my self that we are in less hazard from them whilst we do our Duty and apply our selves to the great and common Obligations of Our Holy Religion then if we should leave this exposed to the Assaults of Our Common Enemies to guard our selves from the attempts of such back Friends We must therefore have an eye to them But the other the great and common Truths and Duties of the Gospel must be our main business I might add many more Remarks proper to my present subject but I know your own Prudence and Observation are sufficient to suggest them to you I shall only add my Prayers for you that God will encrease your Wisdom and Zeal and effectually turn them to his own Glory To the Dissenting Ministers of Derry BUt as to You My Brethren That disown my Communion and Authority I have reason to fear that what I shall offer to you may receive some prejudices from my Station and Character with which you seem offended Yet reason is reason from whom soever it proceeds and I only desire that you would weigh seriously what I have here offered in defence of the Service of Our Church and if the Arguments do not convince You yet let me pray You to reflect thus far on the matter as to remember that all Mens minds are not of the same make and that it becomes You and all good Men at least to treat Our Service with respect Since we believe and think we have proved That it is clearly founded on the Word of God It will not excuse scurrilous or unseemly Reflections on it to say that we are mistaken For all Men are fallible and You may as well be mistaken as you suppose We are And therefore lest You should be in the wrong it will be the safest way to be modest in censuring No Man ought to take it ill that another proposes Reasons against his Opinion but to scoff at or revile any practice or opinion that another believes to be founded on the Word of God is not only ill manners but is of dangerous consequence being apt to breed Bitterness and Animosities between the Parties And if it should happen in a Case where the Practice or Opinion is really Warranted by the Word of God it would be Blasphemy and Impiety And therefore in all matters of Religion we ought to avoid this manner of treatment and whatever Book uses it we need trouble our selves no further with it for it certainly is written only to serve a Party and not Truth There is another thing that in Justice I think I may request of You which is That in Your Worship and Practice You will not make the difference between us seem greater then really it is To abstain from a thing confessed to be lawful in the Service of God meerly because observed by us is surely very far from a Spirit of Meekness and Moderation And therefore I may hope that you will not Indulge Your People in such affected distances that can serve to no other purpose but to make Parties irreconcilable and must proceed from a greater bitterness of Spirit then a good Man can be guilty of towards any Christian. And that You may understand my mind the better in this matter I will give You a few instances that I hope will be inoffensive and in which we may justly expect Your Complyance 1. The first is in the use of the Lord's Prayer which is owned in Your larger Catechism to be Not only for Direction as a Pattern according to which we are to make other Prayers but may be also used as a Prayer And in your Directory 't is recommended to be used in the Prayers of the Church Yet I am informed that You my Brethren of this Diocess who separate from Our Communion do universally neglect it and thereby confirm Your Hearers in an Opinion too common amongst them that all Forms of Prayer are unlawful And that for no other reason that I can learn but to keep up a difference from us in practice where we really agree in point of Doctrine 2. Your sitting at Publick Prayers may be a second Instance in which we may reasonably expect some Reformation 'T is a very irreverent thing in it self against the Command and Examples of Scripture as I think I have sufficiently shewed and against the Opinion of your best Casuists particularly of Dr. Ames de Conscientia Lib. 4· Cap. 18. Sessio per se non est gestus Orandi quia nullam exprimit reverentiam neque in Scripturis approbatur That is Sitting is not of it self a posture of prayer because it expresses no Reverence neither is it approved in Scripture Yet I understand that this is the general posture in which your people Offer their publick prayers and either because it is for their Ease or because you are unwilling to seem to lay any stress on Outward Performances or lastly lest you shou'd be like us you indulge them in it and some of them are so ignorant that they reckon it a piece of Superstition in us to kneel at our prayers and are averse to our Service amongst other Reasons because this is required at it Which Notions I suppose you your selves do not approve and therefore we may justly expect that you shou'd endeavour to inform your people better and