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B04947 A discourse concerning prayer especially of frequenting the dayly publick prayers. In two parts. / By Symon Patrick, D.D. now Lord Bishop of Ely. Patrick, Simon, 1626-1707. 1693 (1693) Wing P789A; ESTC R181547 106,863 299

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so Separate or Holy as the Temple was and will be alwayes to the end of the World unless we suppose that men will lose all Reverence to God and let him have nothing among us which may be peculiarly called his own Now this thing alone is an Argument for Publick Worship that there hath alwaies been a place appointed for Divine Service which would have been needless if Men were not bound to assemble together to Worship God for then it might have been left to every ones liberty where they would please to do it themselves And this also shows the advantage which Publick Worship hath of all other For being performed in a place set a part for it where nothing else is done at our very entrance into it we are naturally put in mind of God and of our business there which is only with him and so shall be more apt to be composed there than in any other place which we are wont to imploy about other things besides the Worship of God Especially since all Wise Men have ever endeavoured that the Service of God should be there performed with the most Solemnity and Majesty that could be contrived nay that the place it self should not be mean but rather stately and gravely adorned For it is not with Publick Prayer as it is with Private In Private as Mr. Hooker judiciously observes secrecy is commended rather than outward show whereas Publick Prayer being the act of the whole Society requires accordingly more care to be had of external Appearance And therefore the very assembling of Men unto this Service hath ever been very solemn and the very outward Form of the place of Publick Prayer hath been ever thought a Circumstance of great moment to help Devotion VI To this may be further added from one of the Texts now mentioned that the Apostle directs how they should exercise their Spiritual Gifts in the Holy place where they met together and particularly the Gift of Prayer 1 Corinth xiv 23. There were a great many extraordinary Gifts then bestowed upon the Corinthian Church every one of which the Apostle informs them was bestowed by one and the same Spirit and bestowed by him to profit withal xii 7. that is for the publick benefit of the Church And among the rest there was a Gi●● of Prayer which was upon some occasions afforded by a particular inspiration of the Holy Ghost and designed as every one beside were for the common good of all the faithful For if any Man wanted the faculty of expressing those pious thoughts which the Spirit suggested to him i● the common Language which every Body understood the Apostle show● his Gift was of small value and directs such a Man to pray that he migh● be able to interpret xiv 13. into a Language that is which was commonly understood The reason o● which was because then his Gift o● Prayer would be of general use i● the Publick Assemblies The advantage of which was to be preferred before any Man's private benefit S● he tells them in the verse foregoing ver 12. that they who were zealous of Spiritual Gifts should seek tha● they might excel to the edifying of the Church And in the verses following ver 14 15. he saith that if he himself should pray in an unknown Tongue ●his Spirit indeed prayed that is the Spiritual Gift which he had was there●n exercised but his understanding was ●nfruitful that is others received no ●enefit by it because they understood ●ot what he said And therefore he ●uts this question What is it then That is what is it that we should de●●re in this business of Prayer Which ●e resolves thus I will pray with the ●pirit and I will pray with the Vnder●●anding also That is this is most 〈◊〉 be desired when I or any other ●ath a Prayer suggested to him by the ●pirit that we may be able not only 〈◊〉 utter what it inspires but to under●●and it also our selves so far as to ●ake others understand it by putting 〈◊〉 into known and intelligible words ●his is certainly best not merely to ●●ve conceptions formed in us by the ●irit but to utter those concepti●s in such familiar and common ex●essions that others may be profited 〈◊〉 them Else saith he When thou shalt ●●ss with the Spirit how shall he that is unlearned say Amen ver 18. That is how shall he that understands not what thou sayest because it is uttered in a strange Language give his consent and joyn with thee in those Petitions and Thanksgivings though i● themselves never so Holy and Good Which the people did at the end 〈◊〉 the Prayers by saying Amen So be it Which words are a demonstration he speaks of Prayer in Publick o● Common Prayer Which from hen●● it is evident was then in greate● esteem because in comparison wit● this the Apostle undervalues even a● extraordinary Gift of Prayer which private Person had whereby he alo●● was profited He prayed well b● others not being edified thereby because they understood not what 〈◊〉 said it was a great diminution of i● worth and made it of less price in th● Apostles account And we all agre● he had the Spirit of God and co●● as well judge what was best as wh● was good Now this was best in 〈◊〉 judgment to have the Prayer ma●● publick that all might joyn in it a●● not remain merely a private good And indeed that Spirit it may be noted under this head which inlivens the whole Body of the Church moves every Member of it unto this to joyn in its common Offices for the Service of the whole Which it is the very scope of the Apostle to demonstrate in those three Chapters xii xiii xiv of the First Epistle to the Corinthians that they ought in every thing to act as Members of a Body seeking the improvement one of another by the exercise of all their Gifts not separately but conjunctly so that all might partake of the benefit And whosoever he is that hath any sense of such a thing as the Body of Christ whereof he is one Member he will never think that what he doth alone is as good as what he performs in Fellowship with the rest of the Members No if he say the same Prayers and offer the same Praises in private which the Church offers in publick he cannot reasonably think there is no difference nor imagine that both alike are God's Service because what he doth in conjunction with the rest of the Body is most agreeable to God's Holy Spirit by which this Body is linkt together and every part of it moved to act for the good of the whole I conclude this with the words of Mr. Thorndike to imagine that Prayers at home will be as acceptable to God Relig. Assembl p. 173. as those made in the Church with our Brethren is as if one should have fancied that the incense of the Temple spoken of Psal cxli. 1. which was a compound of
thereby and be able to say Amen thereunto 1 Corinth xiv 13 14 15 16. Upon which words St. Chrysostome supposes they ended then their Blessing in the Spirit with the very same Form of words wherewith we now conclude our Doxologies or giving Glory to God viz. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for ever and ever or throughout all Ages World without end as we translate the Apostles words Ephes iii. 21. And Peter Martyr thought he had reason to acknowledge as much For upon the forenamed place 1 Cor. xiv 16. he hath this observation From hence we learn that even in those first times the publick Prayers were wont to be concluded with these words secula seculorum World without end And this place of the Apostle puts me in mind of another undeniable Argument for prescribed Forms of Worship in the Christian Church which is that singing Psalms and Hymns made up a great part of that Worship and could not possibly be performed by the whole Congregation unless they had before them that which was to be sung Therefore singing by the Spirit that is by a Spiritual Gift the Apostle makes small account of unless what was sung were put into such words that all the people might understand it and sing God's Praises together with him that was inspired This is the Apostles meaning when he bids them speak among themselves in Psalms and Hymns and Spiritual Songs singing and making melody in their heart to the Lord. Ephes v. 19. Where by Psalms I think all agree are meant the Psalms of David which were a constant set Form of Praise Hymns and Spiritual Songs were the compositions its like of inspired persons then in the Church which could not be sung by all unless they were communicated to the whole Company And then they were a Form also and we may well think were sung more than once it being very reasonable to conceive that they had not every time they met a new Hymn no more than a new Psalm For St. Paul blames it as a confused unedifying thing that when they came together met that is in the publick Assemblies every one had his particular Psalm c. 1 Cor. xiv 26. and commands all things should be done to edifying by making the Psalm common that is so that all might be the better for it Such I perswade my self were the Prayers and Hymns which St. Paul and Silas sung in Prison not each of them their own Private Prayer and Hymn but some Common Prayer and Form of Praise which they were wont to use Act. xvi 25. Such Hymns it is certain there were in the Church which were sung every Morning in praise of our Blessed Saviour as Pliny himself testifies And Eusebius produces an Ancient Writer asserting the Divinity of our Saviour out of the Hymns that had been of old used in the Church acknowledging his Divinity L. v. Eccles Hist chap. 28. And that Writer calls them Psalms and Hymns 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 written by the faithful from the beginning which celebrated Christ the Word of God as God indeed The most Ancient of all which was the Doxology we still use Glory be to the Father and to the Son together with the Holy Ghost as St. Basil * ad Amphilochium cap. 27 29. or whosoever was the Author of the Book concerning the Holy Spirit reports Where he saith that thus it run before the Arian times After which to show that the Church meant in those words to ascribe equal Glory unto the Holy Ghost with the Father and the Son it was altered into that Form wherein it now continues not with the Holy Ghost but to the Holy Ghost Which is the very same as to the sense there being no real difference whether we say Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost or Glory be to them with the Holy Ghost But to avoid all suspition of any distinction which the Church made between them the Form as it is now was thought better And so Ancient and Universal was this Form of Doxology that the Arians themselves used one very like to it giving Honour and Glory to the Father by his only begotten Son in the Holy Ghost as the same Writer informs us * Cap. 25. Which Originally had the same meaning with the other till they perverted it signifying as much as we say now in our Communion Service when we pray for the pardon of our Offences through Jesus Christ our Lord by whom and with whom in the Vnity of the Holy Ghost all Honour and Glory be unto thee O Father Almighty World without end I will not trouble the Reader with any more of the Ancient Hymns but only note that even in the Book of the Revelation we read not only of the Song of Moses but of the Song of the Lamb the latter of which was as much a set Form as the former and is there recorded Revel xv 3 4. Great and marvellous are thy Works Lord God Almighty just and true are thy wayes thou King of Saints Who would not fear thee O Lord and glorifie thy Name For thou only art Holy c. And what hath been said of Hymns may be as truly said of Prayers that the Church had from the beginning a Form of Divine Service which Justin Martyr calls 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Common Prayers and in Ignatius nearer to the Apostles time is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the common Supplication which we cannot well think was any other than such as he or some other Apostolical Man prescribed In Origen they are called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the prescribed or ordained Prayers regular Petitions which they who used were safe he saith from all the power of the Devil And as the Hymn they sung to Christ was so celebrated that the Pagans took notice of it as I observed before so these Forms of Prayer were now so well known to them that they got some scraps of them For we find these words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Lord have mercy upon us in Epictetum in Arrianus a Pagan Philosopher who lived about the same time with Justin Martyr the next Age to the Apostles It is superfluous to add that the Emperour Constantine was wont to say with his whole Court 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Eusebius * L. iv de vita Constant c. 17. calls them the appointed Prayers And delivered a Form of Prayer to his Army to be constantly used by the Souldiers which Eusebius also hath set down in his Life * Ib. cap. 20. Let me only note by the way to quicken the Reader to this Holy Duty that as this Religious Prince had dayly Prayers in his Palace which he frequented with his Courtiers making it an House of God So he had likewise certain * Ib. cap. 22. hours wherein he constantly retired to pray by himself As for following Ages we find frequent mention of Liturgies formed by the Apostles themselves
particularly by St. James Unto which though some Additions perhaps had been then made as there have been more since yet it is hard to think that a great number of Bishops would have owned a Liturgy as composed by St. James if there had not been a constant tradition among them that the Apostles left some stated Form of Prayer and Praise in the Churches which they governed But what need I trouble my self with a long proof of this matter when we have the Confession of the most Learned and Best Men among those whom they that dissent from us have been wont to reverence that there hath been no time wherein there was not a prescribed Form of Divine Service Let Dr. Preston speak for all in a Book of his much prized in former times * Saints dayly Exercise p. 80. where after he had owned that Christ prescribed a Form c. he adds And in the Church at all times both in the Primitive times and all along to the beginning of the Reformed times to Luther and Calvin 's time still in all times the Church had set Forms they used and I know no Objection of weight against it And in Answer to that common Objection which he calls the main one that in stinted Prayer the Spirit is straitned and limited c. He answers as we do now That even those Men that use this reason do the same dayly in the Congregation for when another prayes that is a set Form to him that hears it And therefore if that were a sufficient reason that a Man might not use a set Form because the Spirit is straitned he should not hear another pray at all though it be a conceived Prayer because in that case his Spirit is limited to what that Man saith And very judiciously adds That it is not a bond or restraint of the Spirit because there is a tye of Words For the largeness of the heart standeth not so much in the multitude and variety of Expressions as in the extent of Affection And at last concludes That a set Form of Prayer must be used Would to God they that scruple it would weigh such things as these it would not be long then before they liked nay loved that Form of Prayer which is used in this Church For it is so exactly conformable to the Rule of the Holy Apostle which I have often mentioned 1 Tim. ii 1. consisting of unexceptionable Prayers Supplications Intercessions and Thanksgivings that one cannot but think the Composers of it laid that Rule before them when they framed it It would be too long to give an Account of the whole Book which it is easie to show is made up of those four parts of Divine Service Look only into the Letany which is a word signifying properly a Supplication for the turning away of evil things with which it begins and then proceeds to Prayers and to Intercessions having in the end a general Form of Thanksgiving And observe the admirable Method of it It directs our Prayers to the ever Blessed Trinity Father Son and Holy Ghost the only Object of Worship and Fountain of Mercy Of whom we first deprecate evil things and that in the right order first desiring to be delivered from the evil of Sin both of the Spirit and of the flesh and then from the evil of punishment whether in outward or in inward judgments All this we pray to be delivered from by what Christ hath done and suffered for us and by that alone which is the most prevalent way of suing for Mercy And by the way observe that what some through misunderstanding I hope have been pleased to make the Subject of their Mirth and Sport is really and ought to be esteemed the most serious and effectual Supplication that can be made to our Lord. By whose Holy Nativity and Circumcision by his Baptism Fasting and Temptation by his Agony and bloody Sweat by his Cross and Passion by his Pretious Death and Burial by his Glorious Resurrection and Ascension and by the Coming of the Holy Ghost we pray to be delivered For thus it is Our Lord having humbled himself to be a Man for our sakes nay to take on him the form of a Servant and after all his other Sufferings at last to dye the Death of the Cross for us is gone with that Blood which was there shed into the Heavens and is exalted at God's Right Hand in the High and Holy Place where he represents all that he did and suffered from his coming into the World till his going out of it before God and in the vertue of his bloody Sacrifice which he made of himself pleads to have every thing from God which he hath promised and cannot be denied Now for us to beseech him that through the force of his Sufferings of all sorts especially of his cruel Death and the Glory that followed we may be delivered and saved from all evil is the most pathetical the most powerful way of intreaty and the most prevailing importunity that can be used It is as if we should say Lord show unto the Father what thou hast indured for us represent unto him thy obedience unto Death which he promised to reward with all power in Heaven and in Earth Exercise thy Royal Power which thou hast obtained by that humble Obedience for our Deliverance and Salvation As thou hast received the Gift of the Holy Ghost and imparted it to thy Apostles so pour it down more and more upon us also who believe the Gospel which they preached and testified to be the truth Then follow Petitions for all good things First For the Universal Church then for our own in particular For the King and Royal Family For all in Authority under him For all sorts of Persons and for all sorts of Blessings both for Soul and Body Be at the pains I beseech you to read and consider it with such Observations as these and it alone will be sufficient to make you in love with the rest of the Book of Common Prayer A Book so fully perfected according to the Rules of our Christian Religion Dr. Taylor Rector of Hadley in every behalf that no Christian Conscience in the opinion of a famous Martyr in Queen Maries Dayes whose words these are could be offended with any thing therein contained And therefore I conclude that as it would have been a great Sin in the Church of Ephesus if they had dislike● and rejected that way of Supplications Prayers Intercessions and Thanksgiving● wherein Timothy led them to serve God so it will be still in us if we refuse those Directions which are given us in the Divine Service by our Spiritual Governours when it is manifest they guide us by the Word of God and the Apostolical practice according to it If they had composed a Divine Service wherein they required us to pr●● to Angels or to Saints departed t●● Life or to supplicate God by the●● Merits and their Intercession we should