and to say with Grotius That our Lord did not command the recital of the Words nor tie up his Followers to Words and Syllables Pray Sir be not too obstinate Let the Ancient Fathers and Assembly of Divines have some small Sway with you Do but think Sir that 't is possible for you to be mistaken and consider what an Unreasonable piece of Confidence and Presumption it is to oppose the General Sense of the Christian Church in all Ages And if you could be perswaded to this ordinary piece of Modesty and Self-denyal there might be yet some hopes of your Conviction Your second Request is to explain to you the Meaning of the extraordinary Gift of Praying by Inspiration about which you have some Exceptions which shall be answered in my next I am SIR Your affectionate Friend and Wellwisher M. H. May 25. 1697. LETTER XV. To J. M. SIR HAving in my last given you I hope some Satisfaction about the Apostles using the Lord's Prayer according to their Master's Command and Direction I proceed now to give you some Account of that Extraordinary Gift of Praying by Inspiration that was granted to them which you desire may be explained to you To which end you may observe 1 That when St. John the Herald and Harbinger of our Saviour Proclaimed him to the World he declared of him Mat. 3 1◠that he should Baptize his Disciples with the Holy Ghost meaning that the Holy Spirit should come down visibly upon some of them to assure them of the Truth of his Doctrine and to enable them to Preach and Propagate it to the whole World 2 In the next place you may observe that when our Blessed Saviour first called and gathered his Twelve Apostles among other things for their Encouragement he bid them To take no thought before-hand what they should Speak Mark 13.11 nor to Premeditate for it should be given them in that hour what they should Speak for it is not ye that Speak saith he but the Spirit of my Father that Speaketh in you meaning That they should find that assistance from a Divine Spirit that should help them far better in the Work they were called to than any Fore-thought or Premeditation of their own could do for the Spirit of God should Speak in and through them 3 Again Christ a little before his Ascension into Heaven promis'd to send them the Holy Ghost to be their Paraclete Joh. 14.16 17. ◠Joh. 2.1 which Word signifies not only a Comforter to comfort them in his absence but an Advocate to plead their Cause by teaching them to pray and forming their Petitions for them Now upon the day of Penticost which is our Whit-sunday the Spirit according to Christ's most Gracious Promise was poured out upon them the Holy Ghost coming down on the Apostles in the Sound of a mighty Rushing Wind as a Token of Inspiration and sate upon their Heads in the Appearance of Fire to represent those pious Ardours or Fervency of Spirit that should accompany their Devotion And likewise in the shape of Cloven Tongues to signifie that diversity of languages with which they were endow'd By this Descent of the Holy Ghost the Apostles were furnished with a great Variety of Spiritual Gifts many of which are mentioned by St. Paul in sundry parts of his Epistles Among these as St. Chrysostom tells us Chrys on Rom 8 26. was a Gift of Prayer 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 For the Spirit Zach. 12.10 that was promised to be poured out is by the Prophet Zachary stiled a Spirit of Grace and Supplications And St. Paul tells us Rom. 8.26 That this Spirit helped their Infirmities in Prayer For God saith that Father then gave Gifts which are also called Spirits particularly mentioning this Gift or Spirit of Prayer and he that had it saith he pray'd for the whole Multitude By which it appears that the Publick Offices of the Church were in those Days performed by these extraordinary Gifts the Holy Ghost inspiring into them both the Matter and Words of their Prayers without any help or recourse to their own Invention And this Gift was generally accompanied with the Gift of Tongues whereby the Apostles who were before but ignorant Fisher-men and Mechanicks and scarce understood their own Mother-tongue were by this means enabled to pray in the Languages of all Nations and declare to each of them the wonderful Works of God for so we read Acts 2.4 that the Apostles were filled with the Holy Ghost and began to speak with Tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance This the Men of all Nations who were then present at Jerusalem saw and heard to their great amazement for they marvelled to hear these Illiterate Galilaeans speak to Men of all Countries in their own Tongues And without any previous Learning or Meditation pray fluently in Languages they never heard or understood before And this Gift was likewise attended with the Interpretation of Tongues by which these Apostles were able to interpret in their own Vulgar Language those Prayers which themselves or others had uttered in an unknown Tongue Of this we read at large 1 Cor. 14. Now the design of these Supernatural and extraordinary Gifts was chiefly for the Confirmation and Propagation of the Gospel for so we read that Tongues were a Sign 1 Cor. 14.22 not to them that believed but to them that believed not meaning that these Divine Impulses and Inspirations were intended for the converting of Unbelievers and propagating the Faith of Christ And therefore to attest the Divinity of them they were frequently attended with the Gifts of Healing and Miracles For the Apostles did not only pray for the Sick but healed them too of all manner of Diseases with a word 's Speaking And by many miraculuos Signs and Tokens convinced the World that they were not only sent from God but that what they delivered were the immediate Dictates of his Holy Spirit Now these Extraordinary and Miraculous Gifts were peculiar only to the first Ages of Christianity and were calculated for those Times when the Christian Faith needed Confirmation by the Demonstration of the Spirit and Power for the Christian Religion being then new and forc'd to struggle with the Opposition both of Jew and Gentile These extraordinary Assistances were necessary to overcome the Prejudices of both and thereby to convert some and confirm others in the belief of it But when these had obtained their Effects by the spreading and success of the Gospel which prevailed every where And when the Spirit of God had Dictated and Finished the Holy Scriptures in which are sufficiently contained the Rules and Directions both for the matter and manner of our Prayers Then began this Extraordinary Gift by degrees to cease and the Duty of Prayer to be left to that Ordinary way and means in which it continues to this Day when by the Help of pious and publick Forms composed by the Church for publick Worship and
other Godly Forms of our Own and Others composing for Private Devotion we are sufficiently assisted to put up acceptable Prayers unto God without the help of Inspiration This is Sir a brief Account of the Nature and Use of this Extraordinary Gift of Praying by Inspiration together with the Time and Reason of its expiration But you ask me Where this Extraordinary Gift is called Praying by the Spirit 1 Cor. 14.15 In Answer to which tho' St. Paul's 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 be as you say translated praying With the Spirit yet it may as well be rendred praying By the Spirit there being no Particle to determine it more to the one than to the other and both the Nature of the Gift and St. Paul's Discourse about it seems to lead rather to this than that But however tho' it be not so call'd in Scripture to which I never restrained it yet I presume you have often heard Praying by the immediate Dictates and Inspirations of the Holy Ghost for Brevity's sake called Praying by the Spirit Yea I doubt not but you have heard Praying by Extempore-Effusions called by that Name which hath led many a well meaning Man into great Mistakes about it For tho you may be wise enough to know that this Extraordinary Gift is ceased and so pretend not to immediate Inspirations yet there are many other Sectaries that are not arrived to this but imagine the fond and sudden Suggestions of their own Fancys in Prayer as much the Dictates of the Holy Ghost as any the Inspirations of the Apostles And there are too many Designing Men who for their own Ends are willing enough to have them think so And therefore you would do well Sir to undeceive as many as you can and to rectifie their Mistakes in this Matter But you would have me tell you why could not the Apostles and Disciples of Christ pray without Inspiration when they had the Old Testament and some of the New together with the Lord's Prayer for their Direction The reason of this Sir is plain because our Saviour made choice of the most Ignorant and Illiterate Persons for his Disciples and Apostles that his Institution might appear wholly Divine and not carried on by the help or mixture of Humane Wisdom You know Christ's Followers consisted not of the Scribes and Pharisees and other Learned Rabbies who where well vers'd in the Law for these would not believe on him Joh. 7.48 Mat. 4.21 22 but of a Company of Fishermen and Mechanicks that knew little or nothing of the Law and less of any other Learning And these certainly had great need of Inspiration before they could say or do any thing in the Work they were called to And therefore Christ first gave them his Own Prayer which they used and kept to till he sent them his Holy Spirit to assist them with farther Inspirations and Gifts of the Holy Ghost But how did they pray in the mean time had they no other Publick Prayers or Service but the Lord's Prayer Yes there was the Jewish Service which consisted of many Forms of Prayer and Blessings appointed by God Almighty besides the Psalms of David and the Law of Moses which were daily read in the Temple and the Synagogues and resorted to for some time by our Saviour and his Apostles Besides which Christ frequently pray'd with and for them and daily Instructed them in the Mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven But you ask when this Extraordinary Gift was vouchsafed to the Apostles and Others was there no Ordinary Gift of Prayer Or if there were What was it Sir I see no great need of your Ordinary Gift of Prayer for publick Worship when the Publick Offices of Religion were perform'd by the Immediate Dictates and Inspirations of the Holy Ghost but if there were any Ordinary Gift I suppose it was that of Composing Pious Forms of Prayer for the common use of Christian Converts for we find St. Paul ordering Timothy That Prayers and Supplications and Intercessions and Giving of Thanks be made for all Men for Kings and all that are in Authority 1 Tim. 2.1 2 3. which is supposed by Learned Men to be a Direction given to Timothy for the Composing some pious Forms for the use of those Christians that were committed to his Charge And that they should be so full and comprehensive as to take in all parts of Prayer and extend to all sorts of Persons But for your Ordinary Gift of Praying Extempore or by sudden Conceptions there is not the least Foot-step of it either in the Holy Scriptures or in any History of the Primitive Times I hope this may serve to clear up some of those obscure and confused Notions you seem to have of this Gift Which is heartily wished by Your affectionate Friend and Servant M. H. May 28. 1697. Your next Quere is whether those inspired Persons who were best able have left any publick Prayers for future Generations And who are those uninspired Persons who have now Commission to do so which shall be answered in my next LETTER XVI To J. M. SIR I gave you an Account in my last of that Extraordinary Gift of Praying by Inspiration granted to the Apostles and some other of the Primitive Christians together with the Reasons both of the Conferring and the Ceasing of it Your next Quere is How the Publick Service of the Church was celebrated upon and after the ceasing of Inspiration The Answer whereunto will lead me to consider the Antiquity of Liturgies and to shew the antient and constant Use of them from the Days of the Apostles to the present time But 1. You ask me where those Inspired Persons who were best able have made or left any Publick Prayers upon the compleating of the Sacred Canon Now Sir You must know that the knowledge of this being matter of Fact and at such a distance too can no otherwise come to us but by Tradition and the Testimony of able and competent Witnesses who have recorded and conveigh'd it down thro' every Age. And if you will take their words they tell us that about the latter end of the Apostles Days when the Christian Church began to be settled St. Peter who was the first Bishop of Rome compos'd a Liturgy for the use of those whom he had converted to the Faith and that St. James the first Bishop of Jerusalem did the like for those committed to his Charge And that the same was done by St. Mark for his Charge at Alexandria Which Liturgies are all extant at this Day and tho' as may easily be supposed of things of that nature they have undergone some Alterations in so long a Tract of Time yet they are by Learned Men thought to be for the most part the Genuine Works of those Apostles And your Friend Mr. Beza plainly intimates so much for he saith 1 Cor. 11.34 Quae ad ordinem spectant ut Precum Formulae et caetera ejusmodi disposuit Apostolus in
them I cannot doubt your acceptance and shall therefore rest SIR Your assured Friend and Well-wisher M. H. June 10. 1697. LETTER XVIII To J. M. SIR I Come now to what you have often called for and that is to prove Extempore or Free Prayer to be a late Invention brought into these Kingdoms by the subtlety of Popish Emissaries which you say is asserted in my Sermon and I doubt not but with very good Reason and Truth That 't is a late Invention hath been proved in some measure already because Antiquity makes mention only of two Ways of Praying sc by the Immediate Inspirations of the Holy Ghost and by the use of Publick Forms When our Saviour called his Disciples and Apostles he indowed them with extraordinary Gifts of the Holy Ghost by which they were enabled to Pray by the immediate Assistance and Inspirations of the Holy Spirit and this continued a while for the Confirmation and Probation of the Gospel but when the Gospel obtaining every where this extraordinary Gift of Praying was withdrawn then the Ordinary way of Praying by Publick Forms took place and this hath continued and is derived down through the several Ages of the Church to this day Whereas Praying Extempore without the help of Inspiration and in opposition to Established Forms is a thing that was never heard of or practised for above a Thousand years after Christ and his Apostles and hath plainly appeared to be a late Artifice made use of by cunning Men to serve their own Ends and Purposes When the Church of England had by the Blessing of God happily Reformed and cast off the Errors and Corruptions of Rome and that Church had thereby lost a very great part of its Power Patrimony and Preferments great Art was used to reduce it back again and by undermining the Reformation to regain their lost Prize And because they found no Tool more effectual to work by than this of Extempore Prayer as being most apt to catch and deceive the People they did not fail to make use of it and this we shall find to be the Rise and Original of this way of Praying For the clearing and confirming whereof you must consider First the nature of the thing to be proved And Next The proper Evidence or way of proving it for to expect the same kind of Proof for every thing and to look for Demonstrations in matters that are not capable of it hath been ever esteemed a piece of great Ignorance and Folly Now the thing before us being a matter of Fact is only to be proved by Testimonies and such Authentick Records as no wise or impartial Man hath any just reason to deny and if it hath this Evidence for the Truth of it 't is as much as any reasonable Person can desire and that it hath this I doubt not to make apparent to any that hath no wrong Byass to draw him away from the belief of it To this end you must know Sir That there is in Rome a Society called Congregatio de propagandâ fide whose chief business it is to choose out and send abroad Emissaries into all Parts of the World to propagate the Romish which they call the Catholick Faith and to reduce Hereticks that are gone off from it Now the persons they make choice of for this Imployment are the fittest they can pick out of all Orders and Fraternities but more especially of the Order of the Jesuits who being bred up to all the Arts of Insinuation and likewise to some skill in many ordinary and mechanical Arts are known to be the ablest Instruments for the carrying on of this Work and These are found under sundry Masks and Disguises in most parts of the reformed Countries Moreover you must note That one of the principal Wiles and Methods made use of to compass this end is to create Differences and Divisions where they come that by unsetling the Minds of Protestants they may the better shake the Principles of the reformed Religion and by running the Round of various Sects and Heresies they may at last be brought to wheel about and to settle in what they stile the Catholick Faith Bella Haereticorum Pax Ecclesia 'T is the known Maxim of their great Politicians that the Discord of Hereticks is the Security of the Church and Bishop Whitgift in the days of Queen Elizabeth shews that the opposing of Uniformity was the great Artifice of the Papists to subvert the Protestant Religion and which way their Endeavours still tend may be seen with half an Eye all their Hopes being founded upon our Dissentions Of this you may read more at large in Dr. Falkener's Libertas Ecclesiastica Pag. 6. Sect. 2. Now there is no one thing which they have found more effectual to cause and ferment Divisions than this of Extempore Prayer whereby under the notion of a more spiritual way of Praying they have brought the People out of love with all Antient and Godly Forms and set them a madding after vain and new Inventions and having found this so well to answer their Expectations you may be assured such cunning Polititians will not be wanting to promote and practise it And that this was the first Rise and is still their main reason of encouraging this way of Praying I come now more directly to prove Though there are many known and well attested Stories of Romish Priests and Jesuits being found in various Disguises wheedling and seducing the People by this Artifice yet because some among our selves have fallen into the same way for their own Ends 't will be hard to remove their Prejudices by any private though never so well attested Relations of this kind I shall therefore give you two very remarkable Instances hereof confirmed by such Publick Authentick Testimony as no unbyass'd person can have any just Exception against and they are Faithful Cummin and Thomas Heath the one a Dominican Fryar and the other a Jesuit The Examination of the first was taken before Queen Elizabeth and the Lords of the Council by Matthew Parker then Arch Bishop of Canterbury an Extract of which was found in the Memorials of my Lord Cecil an eminent Statesman in the Reign of that Queen from whence it was transmitted to the most Reverend Arch Bishop Vsher and coming into the hands of Sir James Ware was by that means communicated to the Publick The Examination of the other was taken by the Bishop of Rochester in the presence of the Dean and Chapter of that Church the Narrative whereof was taken out of the Registry of that See So that no matter of Fact can be proved by better Evidence Having seen the Evidence let us hear the Fact which in short was thus Faithful Cummin under the Disguise of a more refined Protestant made frequent use of this more Spiritual way of Praying on purpose as it plainly appeared to bring the People into a hatred and contempt of the Publick Prayers of the Church which he reviled