understand and not by thrusting Bibles privately into their hands of the ineffectualness of which we have had an Experiment of 150 Years 6. But lastly Instead of all other Arguments None of us are ignorant that the Word of God cannot be presumed to have the same Efficacie when read privately as it hath when read in the Assemblies of Christians according to God's appointment Since he has given us a peculiar promise to be present in such Assemblies And there are no diligent Hearers of the Word Publickly read but are able from their own experience to testify that they often find it to have a different force and efficacy when they hear it read as a part of his Ordinance in the Publick Assemblies in which he has peculiarly promis'd his presence than when they read it in private by themselves The Third pretence I have found alledged for omitting the regular reading the Bible in your Meetings is That it takes up too much time and is a hindrance to the more profitable Duty of what you commonly call Preaching 1. I intreat you to consider That there is a time for every thing and since God has appointed reading his Word a time and room in our Publick Assemblies who are we that we should presume to throw it out This surely is to set up our selves against God and to think that we are able to Order things better for the Edification of his Church then he has done Surely we ought rather to take care so to dispose our Sermons that they may not interfere with any other Institution of God But that whatever time we allow them there may remain sufficient for reading God's Holy Word Which I have proved is in Scripture Language Preaching And therefore to justle this out to make our own discourses longer is plainly to prefer our way of Preaching to God's If there were a necessity that one or the other must be omitted Modesty ought to Teach us to omit our own Words rather then God's 2. Suppose that upon some Extraordinary Occasion it may be Lawful to omit Reading God's Word in our Assemblies that we may have the more time to manage a discourse for the Instruction of the People yet it can never be justifiable to make this a common practise which is to put a manifest Contempt on the Word of God A Fourth Pretence against reading the Scriptures publickly in a Regular Method is That they are hard to be understood or applyed and therefore only so much of them ought to be read at a time as the Minister may explain and apply to his Auditory And that one Verse thus Applyed is better than many Chapters read without such Application 1. It is to be consider'd First That it is against the general opinion of the Reformed Churches who universally teach that the Scriptures are plain in all things necessary to Salvation And therefore there is not that universal necessity of an explanation of every place of Scripture that is to be read as is pretended 2. The Holy Scriptures when heard with Humility and Attention apply themselves better then any Man can do it The Words of them are the Words of God and they have a plainness force and spirit in them which no Humane Eloquence can improve and therefore it is a great affront to them to say that they have little efficacy except a Minister apply them 3. Suppose one verse well applied to be better than many Chapters for which there is no colour yet this would not justifie the omission of reading them publickly for no Application can be so well made of them whilst people are not thoroughly acquainted with them It ought therefore to be our first care to read them to the People often and solemnly that they may be acquainted with the whole Body of them and then one word of Application may do more good then many Sermons to People not so prepared with the general knowledge of them The literal knowledge of the will of God must always go before the saving and is the best Introduction to it Now the reading the Law in the ears of the people is the means appointed by God to teach them that literal knowledge and therefore while your Teachers have laid aside this means of God's Appointment they have in a great measure debarred people of the Spiritual and Saving knowledge of his Will 4. Fourthly Reading a verse or two and trusting to the Ministers Application without the peoples being acquainted with the whole body of the Scriptures does put Christians too much in the power of their Teachers and makes them liable to be seduced by them This is the very Artifice whereby the Romish Priests keep their people in ignorance and your Teachers using the same Method while it is manifest that so great a part of their people either do not or cannot read them at home seems too like a design on their Hearers and tempts the World to suspect that they are affraid of the naked simplicity of the Scriptures since they dare not trust their people with Hearing them Publickly read except they add their own glosses to them The Fifth Pretence that I have met with for laying aside the publick reading the Word of God is That the dead Letter as some call it is a dull formal thing without Spirit or Life where it is not applied to the Souls of Men by the Spirit of God speaking in his Ministers and that without such Assistance the Scriptures have little Efficacy on the Heart I hope there are few of any Communion will own this pretence since it is so horrid a Reflection and affront on the Word of God I will however in answer to it offer these following Considerations 1. That the Holy Scriptures give a Character of themselves very different from this They represent the Word of God as the Sword of the Spirit as quick and powerfull as able to make a Man wise to Salvation as giving wisdom to the simple as Converting the Soul with many other Expressions to denote the Efficacie thereof on the hearts of Men and therefore to reflect on the Word as dull and formal as a meer dead Letter that cannot engage the attention of the Hearers or reach their Hearts is too near Blasphemy 2. We are certain that God speaks to us immediately by his Holy Spirit in his Word And where the Spirit of God is there is Power But when Men speak their own Words or pretend to apply the Words or Passages of Scripture tho' they seem to do it with the greatest Zeal and Learning yet they may be mistaken nay they may decieve us And therefore wholly to lay aside the immediate dictates of the Holy Ghost recorded in the Scriptures for any pretended Explication or Application made by Men is manifestly to exchange God's undoubted Words and Command for what may be a meer Humane Invention 3. 'T is to be considered that the people have always been apt to grow weary of the Service of God in
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
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
by the Spirit on ordinary occasions I appeal to you whether it would not be looked on as rashness for an ordinary person to speak to a Prince or solemn Assembly concerning a matter of great moment in words unpremeditated and unformed and we shall hardly find any so rash as to venture on it King Solomon here seems to have recommended the same modesty to Men in their Addresses to God 9. But in as much as God has not expressly forbidden all extemporary prayers I would not be understood by this to condemn all such as unlawful There may be some Men tho' not very many able to express themselves significantly and decently extempore and there are some occasions that require it even in Publick and on these occasions when a Man has not time allowed him to reduce his desires into form before he offers them he may depend on the assistance of God's Spirit as we may in all other cases of of necessity or at least hope for pardon of course to our infirmities But to depend on that Spirit and neglect the means God has given us to provide our selves looks so like tempting him that we ought carefully to avoid it And I find Prudent Modest Men are aware of this and tho' they be very famous for extemporary prayers yet they pray really as much by a Form as if they had the Common-Prayer before them The secret is only this they compose Forms of Prayer of several sorts digest them well in their minds and commit them to memory so that they can on occasion transpose the parts of them change add or leave out as they see reason and thus they are in effect provided with a Form tho' the people cannot perceive it and admire them for their readiness and fluency It is easie for any Man of Moderate Parts to manage the matter thus but the more ignorant and ordinary Preachers that know not or are not capable of the method of it fall into very indecent and vain repetitions and are often at a loss when they strive to practise this way of Addressing to God Another account may be given of these seeming Extemporary Prayers not much different from the former namely That good Men who make a Conscience of secret prayer to God and have grown up in a constant Discharge of this Duty do by degrees fall into a Form even with themselves for how much soever their prayers were Extempore at first yet having continual Occasion of praying to God for the same things they find in time that there is but one best way of expressing the same thing which necessarily leads to a form However the various ways they made use of before they settled on one serve them as so many forms when they come in publick And by changing of these they seem to pray extempore 10. Lastly let me observe that the use of Extemporary conceived prayers even in cases of necessity is founded on a general Rule of Scripture only which commands us to ask of God what we lack Of which Rule our own prudence makes the Application in such extemporary occasions but when we set up this Human Application of this general Rule in opposition to that particular manner of asking commanded by God and practised by Holy Men which is by set and premeditated Forms in the ordinary Worship of God and turn God's way out of his Worship to make room for one of our own This is to displace a particular command of God on pretence of guiding our selves by a general one In which we are not only more liable to mistakes but we fail of paying due respect to God's Directions For general Commands ought only to take place in such Cases where God has not laid down a particular Rule And thus I have examined the First Principle of Dissenters That the Spirit of Prayer is given to all the Children of God whereby they are enabled to conceive with the Heart and express with the Mouth convenient desires to God IV. I come now to speak to the Second That all Forms of Prayer are Vnlawfull to Christians and that it is a sin to join in a Worship where they are used or so much as to be present at it If there be any of you for whom I intend these Papers of this opinion as I fear some of you are and all of you do in your practice comply with those that maintain it and therefore cannot acquit your selves from countenancing it I desire you to observe that if there were no harm in the opinion or if it were a meer Speculation we should not be much concerned at their mistake But by what I have shewed of the Scripture Authority of Forms it is plain that they who maintain this principle do not only teach for Doctrines the Commandments of Men but in effect set themselves up above Christ and countermand what he has required They not only add to the Gospel a new command by Teaching that to be unlawful which Christ has no where condemned but they Teach that to be unlawful which he has positively commanded Whoever therefore do Teach Forms of Prayer to be unlawful or countenance those that do Teach this Doctrine of Men cannot acquit themselves from the imputation of resisting the Holy Ghost by whose inspiration the word of God is penned I can foresee only one thing that can be alledged in favour of those who maintain this opinion and 't is that to pray with or without a Form excepting the Lords-Prayer is in it self indifferent and that therefore the asserting the use of Forms is not a matter of such weight as to justify our contending with our Brethren about it and that it seems uncharitable in us to insist on a thing which they are fully perswaded is unlawful and we our selves count indifferent 1. But in Answer to this it is to be observed First That an opinion which necessarily divides him who believes it from the Communion of all the Established Churches in the World cannot be of so little moment as the objection would make it And such is this opinion of the unlawfulness of Forms of Prayer since there neither is nor has been any Established Church these 1500 years but has maintained their Lawfulness and used them in the Service of God and therefore whoever believes them to be unlawful in whatever Age he had lived he must have separated from all the Established Churches of the World at that time and surely an opinion that necessarily produces such a Division must be of mighty consequence whether true or false ought to be carefully examined and if false to be zealously opposed But 2. I suppose it will be granted that eating Swines Flesh or drinking Wine are as indifferent as using a Form of Prayer and of less concern to the Souls of Men and that therefore to Teach these to be unlawful would be as innocent a mistake as to Teach the unlawfulness of Forms For if we compare these two Doctrines together
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