in this Case we plead and which some phrase a stinting or limiting the Spirit For the clearer understanding of this Matter I will first set down what Influence upon our Words in Prayer we challenge for the Holy Spirit It lieth as I said in the former Chapter in two things 1. In bringing to remembrance the Word of God What Acts are contrary to it and have been our Sins and so are Matter of Confession what things the Word of God gives us leave to ask and under what Circumstances and what we have need of what Promises God hath made for giving them to us Now this is no more than Christ promised Iob. 14. 26. The Holy Ghosts shall bring all things to your remembrance whatsoever I have said unto you We challenge no such thing for the Holy Spirit as dictating new Matter not contained in the Word but bringing to our Minds what Things are in the Word fit for Confession Supplication or Thanksgiving as to us or others 2. Nor Secondly must that Power be denied the Holy Spirit which any of our Brethren have they can whisper such things in our Ears and so bring them to our Minds tho' it may be we were not aware of them or had forgotten them we believe the Holy Spirit can make immediate Impressions upon our Spirits proportionate to the Sounds Creatures can make in our Ears from which Impressions are made upon our Souls Those who deny this must deny all Spiritual Motions from the Blessed Spirit of God 2. We also challenge for the Holy Spirit a Power to excite and inflame the Affections which so beated thrust out Words in a natural Course This is all we plead for in the Case and say That if in Prayer we be limited by a Form of Words such kind of Impressions as these cannot affect us nor have any Effect upon us suitable to the Nature of them and the Holy Spirit 's Design in making of them and this we think is not lawful for us to allow because it is a quenching of the Spirit Our Casuist tells us That he will also examine What the Scripture attributeth to the Spirit in Prayer 2. What it is to stint or limit the Spirit He saith The Scripture attributeth something to the Spirit in Prayer which was extraordinary and temporary and something ordinary fix'd and standing That which he mentions as extraordinary is the Inspiration of the Matter of Prayer together with an Ability to express it in known or unknown Languages To which I answer There is thus much Truth in this That it is sufficiently probable that before the full Revelation of the Will of God in Scripture God did extraordinarily inspire his Servants as to some particular Matter of Prayer how otherwise could they know what was his Will And that also upon the first going of the Apostles to the Gentiles it pleased God also to inable the Apostles to pray with divers Tongues nor was this only for a Sign to them that believed not but as a necessary Mean by which the first Messengers of Christ to the Gentiles were inabled both to pray with and to preach to several Nations But that after the full Revelation of the Divine Will in the Holy Scriptures God at any time more than other hath revealed the Matter of Prayer unto his People more than the Matter of Preaching is more than I know or any can prove nor can any Reason be given for such an Assertion he had in his written Word told his Ministers and People what they should pray for nor might they pray for any thing but what was according to that his revealed Will. 2. If by revealing the Matter of Prayer this Author means no more than bringing to Ministers and Peoples Minds such things as they stand in need of and God in his Word hath declared himself ready to give it is no more than God yet doth every Day 2. If by it he meaneth his exciting them at this or that time to pray for some particular Good either for a Nation or Church or a particular Family or Person which he had only generally promised in his Word and left them at Liberty to pray for conditionally and with a reference and Submission to his Divine Will and Wisdom neither can this be called extraordinary with reference to any Period of Time it being no more than what God hath by his Spirit done in all Times and yet doth tho' in another Sense this be extraordinary such more-than-ordinary Impressions being but at such particular Times when God intendeth to give out such Mercies other extraordinary and temporary Revelations of the Matter of Prayer after the Sealing of the Canon of Scripture are such as nothing in Scripture guideth any to expect And to assert any such thing is but to dictate without Shadow of Proof eithe r from Scripture or Reason Nor is it more true that there ever were any extraordinary Assistances of the Spirit at any time as to the Words used in Prayer further than the inabling the first Ministers and Christians to pray and preach in other Tongues than they had learned Nor can it be proved that as to praying in their own Language the Holy Spirit ever was further promised or given to any than to bring to their Remembrance the Things they stood in need of and which God had given them leave to pray for and promised to give and the like and exciting their Affections and inflaming them which being heated they spake with their Tongues which Assistance we do say is an ordinary and standing Influence communicated as to former Ages so to our present Age and will be communicated to Believers to the End of the World Let us hear what Reason our Casuist hath to the contrary He pretendeth to give us Four P. 6 7 8 9 10 c. to 21. 1. His First Reason is Because there is no Promise of any such Gift which were it true were indeed a strong Reason tho' not against the thing for God may give what he hath no where particularly promised yet against our Expectation of any such thing But this is very far from being Truth For 1. There are general Promises of all good things and of his Spirit 2. There are particular Promises of the Holy Spirit to help us in the Duty of Prayer So that if this Influence be a good thing and what is possible without any Derogation to-the Honour of God there are Promises enough for it He who looketh for a particular Promise for every thing will deprive himself of the comfortable Expectation of much Good and disable himself from praying in Faith for most things he prayeth for God hath promised Psal. 84 11. No good thing will be with-hold from them that walk uprightly He hath promised to give his Holy Spirit to them that ask him and he hath told us that by this Spirit we cry Abba Father Rom. 8. 15. Gal. 4. 6. and told us Rom. 8. That the Spirit helpeth our
Liberty so to bring to our Remembrance and thus this Text is reducible to the first Case propounded by our Author Or let it be interpreted as to the Spirit of a Man under the Gospel renewed and sanctified so it relates to our Author's Second Case and enough hath been spoken to each of them We ought not so to pray if we be able to do otherwise as to exclude the former nor yet so as to omit our own Gift which is the Effect of the Spirit which is all we contend for For all that our Author saith about the Word in the Hebrew used 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 whether it sometimes signifie Prayer in the general signifieth nothing as to the Argument especially considering that if by the Terms of Praying and Prayer c. be thrice in Scripture signified meerly mental Prayer yet vocal Prayer is for those three times forty times understood and I believe it is not capable of Proof that meerly mental Prayer is thrice called Prayer For his next Texts 1 Cor. 1.5 2 Cor. 8.7 I know of none that hath pleaded that the Gift of Vtterance is to be restrained to Prayer for my own part I always thought it respected Preaching as well as Prayer but that it is to be understood and limited to extraordinary Gifts is what I cannot yield For what is the Gift of Utterance but an Ability to utter which certainly is applicable as well to the utterance of our Minds to God in Prayer as of God's Mind to us in the interpreting or applying of God's Will to us and let our Author prove the contrary if he can These extraordinary Gifts were certainly not so common as that of Vtterance which seems to have been the Portion of the whole Church of Corinth 1 Cor. 1.5 And by 2 Cor. 8.7 it appeareth no more extraordinary than Faith Knowledge and Diligence with which it is ranked there and if Vtterance be no more than Ability to utter or a Freedom of Speech it is demonstrable that it was not as our Author saith peculiar to the primitive Ages of miraculous Gifts because we find by Experience that Multitudes have it now and that both as to Prayer and Preaching Vtterance is expressed by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1 Cor. 1.5 Eph. 6.19 Col. 4.3 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Now Speech or a Freedom of Speech was no extraordinary miraculous Gift Acts 2.4 quoted by our Author is thus They were all filled with the Holy Ghost and began to speak with other tongues as the spirit gave them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to utter or speak It is also used v. 14. and Acts 26.25 I speak the words of truth and soberness for which Paul needed no extraordinary Gift By this Reply the Insufficiency of our Author's Answer to these Scriptures produced by Dissenters will appear But p. 33. he goeth on and saith But they object further That supposing God hath not given to all Christians the Gift of Prayer extempore yet to a great many he hath and therefore these at least he requires to pray by their Gifts not by a Form 1 Tim. 4.14 2 Tim. 1.6 1 Pet. 4.20 Rom. 12.6 It is very true that some Dissenters have quoted these Texts and see no Reason yet to quit them tho' they at first granted them ex abundanti not as needing them to to prove what is all that they do prove for even Nature it self teacheth Men and Women being able to do it to express the Wants and Desires of their Souls by Words formed in their own Hearts and tells us no Words are so natural and proper and what Nature teacheth we need no Institution for If any corrective Institution hath restrained us in the use of what is a natural proper Means to an Action it must be produced The Iews needed no positive Law requiring them to eat Flesh but it being the Will of God that to shew their Obedience to him they should forbear eating some kinds of Flesh there was need of an Institution corrective of what Nature otherwise taught them But yet what Nature it self teacheth may also be taught by Revelation as we have always thought this was by the Texts quoted which have not been brought to prove in Specie That those who have the Gift of Prayer ought to use it But that those who had any Gift serving them to the Performance of a Religious Act ought to use it in the Performance of that Act unless they be restrained by some corrective Institution that is by some Law of God declaring his Will for their Forbearance of the use of that Ability which the Declaration of his Will in his Word for the use of this or that Form of Words in Prayer we confess is This is the general Summ of what hath been said All that our Author saith as to these Texts is That by Gifts in those Texts is only to be meant Office What hath been said to this may be read in the Answer to Dr. Falkner's Vindication of Liturgies p. 62 63 64 65 66 67 68. Nothing of which our Author takes notice off 1. It is gratis dictum said and not proved that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies in three Texts Office not Gift it being manifest that in many Texts it signifies Gift not Office Erâ—smus in all those Texts translates it Donum the Gift Dr. Fulk against Martin sath it is never taken in Scripture but for a free Gift or a Gift of his Grace The Vulgar Latin so translates it Erasmus notes that Ambrose so understood it 2. Rom. 12.6 saith Having then Gifts differing according to the Grace given to us 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 It may be it is the only Text where 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 can with any Pretence be translated Offices and not necessarily there See Rom. 5.15 chap. 6.23 Rom. 2.11 1 Cor. 12.4 9 28 30. chap. 11.7 Rom. 11.29 1 Cor. 1.11 1 Cor. 12.31 I think it is hardly used in any other Texts and in no Heathen Author So as we must have the Sense of it from Holy Writ Let any one peruse those Texts and judge whether contrary to the Sense of most Authors he can translate 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Office or Dignity For what our Author saith as to 1 Tim. 4.14 that the next Words which was given thee by Prophecy make it plain that this is the Sense of it the Reader may see in the aforementioned Answer to Dr. Falkner p. 63. what is said to it That is obscurum per obscurius Piscator Vatablus and Beza make the Sense That thou mayest Prophecy Three ancient Versions viz. the Syriack Arabick and Ethiopick read it with Prophecy Our Translators indeed and Vulgar Latin read it by Prophecy The Greek Particle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is translated with great Variety per propter prae ob post cum quoniam which gives Interpreters such a Liberty Because of or for Prophecy is a very good Interpretation and justifyable from Matth. 10.22 and chap. 13.21 58. But
God if it be according to the Revealed Will of God Surely one who being about to pray hath any thing brought into his Mind to confess beg or give Thanks for which he knows is according to the Revealed Will of God his Duty to confess beg or give Thanks for may know or at least reasonably think it is brought to his Thoughts by the Holy Spirit of God tho' he cannot confirm it to be so by a miraculous Operation But saith our Casuist tho' the Scripture may be sufficient to discover the Matter of the Inspiration whether it be true or false yet it is not sufficient to distinguish the Inspiration whether it be Divine or Natural or Diabolical Then he runs into a Discourse of Natural and Diabolical Enthusiasms and concludes That Men may be inspired naturally or from the Devil and how dangerous it is to father such Inspirations upon the Spirit of God 1. For natural Inspiration it is a kind of unintelligible Thing for surely he that is inspired doth aliquid pati suffer something and to suffer it to receive the Action of a foreign Agent So that to speak modestly tho' Natural Inspiration be a Canting Term devised by some of late for no very good Purpose it is no very good Natural Sense carrying with it contradictionem in adjecto which is not very Scholastick It is true a Man may have a natural or accidental Fervency of Spirit occasioned several natural and honest ways as well as by some less honest and I do not think it much dishonourable to the Holy Spirit to make use of those natural Means to excite the Affections Our Casuist is aware that this Third Reason of his will have the same if not a greater Force against that Assistance of the Spirit in Prayer which he and others of his Mind are willing to allow that he might not be called the Spirit of Supplication for nothing viz. in exciting and inflaming the Affections whose Fervour cannot be denied also to proceed sometimes from the Temper of the Body and they will be at a Loss there also to distinguish betwixt the Fervour that is Divine and that which is Natural in its Causation But how will he avoid it He tells us p. 12. That as to this we have a sure Word of Promise but not for the latter and therefore if we can claim a Promise we have just Reason to conclude that how much soever other Causes might contribute towards it the Holy Spirit was the Principal Cause I hope my Reader from what I have said before will see Reason to conclude that we may as well claim Promises and more than one for that Influence which we claim for the Holy Spirit upon our Words in Prayer as for the Influence it hath upon our Affections and if he will but name us the Texts and Promises he hath for the Spirit 's Influence upon our Affections it is ten to one but we shall prove that those very Texts if Rom. 8. 15 26. Gal. 4. 6. as much concern Words and contain Promises for Assistance as to Words as the exciting of Affections and we are pretty sure of it considering the great Influence raised Affections have upon our Words expressive of them so as we are Even and if there need no Miracle to prove the one to be Divine neither doth there need any to prove the other Influence Divine also 2. As to Diabolical Inspiration we have spoken before The Probability of such a thing is a very bold Suggestion We cannot deny but the Devil may sometimes suggest Scriptures to us ' He did so to our Saviour Matth. 4. 6. But it is a sure Rule that he never doth it but for obvious and apparently sinful Ends. If a Minister or a consciencious Christian be conscious to himself that he hath no other Ends in Prayer than to glorifie God in obeying his Will to humble his Soul before God for his Sins and to beg and obtain his Pardon and such Influences of Grace as his Soul stands in need of and he finds Scriptures pertinent to these Things brought to his Mind he hath no Reason but to conclude they come from the Holy Spirit nor needeth he any Miracle to confirm it The End will both demonstrate the Act and also discover the Principle plainly enough But p. 14. Our Casuist riseth higher telling us That we have not only no certain Sign of any such Inspiration in the conceived Prayers of those which most pretend to it but many certain ones of the contrary Four he will instance in upon which he deseants p. 15 16 17 18 19 20. 1. The great Impertinence and Nonsense and Rudeness to say no worse that are sometimes mingled with these extempore Prayers 2. That they are so generally tinctured with the particular Opinions of those that offer them 3. That that which gives them the Reputation of being so inspired is not so much the Matter as the way and manner of expressing them 4. That that extraordinary manner and way of expressing them for which they are thought to be inspired doth apparently proceed from natural Causes The two latter be calleth Plain Signs Let us try the Certainty and Truth of any of them I observe his first Sign is wonderfully qualified with Sometimes which takes out all the Efficacy of it for I suppose our Casuist hath heard of such an Axiome as this Spiritus Dei non semper tangit Prophetatum c. The best Prophet is not always a true Prophet even Nathan himself falsly revealed the Will of God to David 2 Sam. 7.3 Go do all that is in thine heart for the Lord is with thee God sent him the next Morning to tell David the quite contrary And Paul who sometimes spake what he had received from the Lord 1 Cor. 11.23 and 1 Cor. 7.10 saith Vnto the married I command yet not I but the Lord v. 12. of that same Chapter saith But to the rest spake I not the Lord. So that with our Casuist's Leave supposing it true that at some time some Phrases may slip which some Criticks may call Nonsense and oft-times they will call that so which is not so or which should in their Judgment be rude and indecent or perhaps worse Supposing that some at some times should in their Prayers declare their own Opinions which are not Truth Neither of these would any more prove that these Mens Words in other Parts of their Prayers or at other Times in Prayer were not influenced by the Holy Spirit then David's Murther and Adultery Lot's Incest Peter's Denial of his Master would prove that they were not in the general Course of their Conversation led by the Spirit of God or that Nathan was never influenced in his Prophecy by the Holy Spirit because he was not when he approved of David's Resolution to build God an House So plain are the two first Signs that indeed they are no Signs nor have any colour of such a thing further than concerns