Language which themselves or others had utter'd in unknown Tongues and this among others the Apostle calls a Spiritual Gift 1 Cor. 12. 1. which as I remember is the only place where the Gift of Prayer is mention'd in Scripture and in 1 Cor. 14. 14. it is also call'd a Spirit where he gives us an account at large of this miraculous way of praying Now that this miraculous Gift of praying in and interpreting Prayers out of unknown Tongues was extraordinary and temporary and peculiar to the Primitive Ages of Christianity is evident because the design of it was not only to inable the first Planters of the Gospel to perform their Ministerial Office in the vulgar Languages of the several Nations they were sent to but also to be a sign from God as all other Miracles were for the confirmation of the Gospel for so the Apostle tells us 1 Cor. 14. 22. That Tongues were for a sign not to them that believe but to them that believe not and therefore since it 's granted of all hands that the Gift of Miracles was extraordinary and intended only for a demonstration of the Gospel to the Infidel World and after that to cease there can be no doubt but this miraculous Gift of Prayer was so too But that the Spirits inditing the Matter and if you will the words of those inspired Prayers was also extraordinary will require a larger proof because it is look'd upon by many of our dissenting Brethren as an ordinary and standing Gift which the Spirit doth and will communicate to all successive Ages of the World Against this Opinion of theirs therefore I shall briefly offer these following Reasons to their consideration 1. That there is no promise of any such Gift and therefore no reason to expect the continuance of it For whatsoever standing and ordinary benefits we receive from God we receive them by vertue of the New Covenant in which he hath promised to us all those good things which we can reasonably expect at his hands and the promise of God being the only foundation of our hope it is presumption to promise our selves what he hath not promised us but now in all the New Covenant we have not the least intimation of any such promise viz. That the Spirit will immediately indite to us the Matter and Expressions of our Prayers For as for that of Zachary 12. 10. which is the only promise that is pretended in the case it 's evident at first sight that it 's nothing to the purpose I will pour out upon the Inhabitants of Jerusalem the Spirit of Grace and Supplications and they shall look upon me whom they have pierc'd and they shall mourn What is all this to the immediate inspiration of the Matter and Expressions of our Prayer when it 's plain that the Spirit of Supplication here is the same with the Spirit of Grace or of inward Piety and Devotion even as the following words imply and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced and mourn that is for their horrid sin of crucifying me But that there is no such promise in the New Covenant is evident from what is acknowledged of all hands viz. That there are many good Christians who could never pretend to any such inspiration who are some of them fain to be beholding to their own recollection and invention for the Matter and Words of their Prayers and others for want of a sufficient quickness of invention to be beholding to Forms of Prayer of other mens composure neither of which they need were they immediately inspir'd And I am very confident 't would be look'd upon by all sober Diffenters as a very rash and unjust censure to affirm that a man cannot be a good Christian who doth not pray by immediate inspiration but is always fain to depend either on his own invention or a Form of Prayer for the Matter and Expressions of his Devotions and if so how can this consist with a standing promise of immediate inspiration of Prayer in the New Covenant unless we will suppose that there are Blessings promised in the New Covenant to which good Christians may have no right or title and of which they may never actually partake which is utterly to destroy the nature of the Covenant which extends to all who perform the conditions of it and to cut off all our dependance upon it 2. That as there is no promise so there is no need of any such immediate inspiration 'T is true Christ hath promised by his Spirit to be with us to the end of the World and assur'd us that he will give his Spirit unto every one that asks and to what end hath he promised this but only to supply our Necessities and inable us to perform those Duties which through our own impotency we cannot perform without him for so he argues from the readiness of Parents to supply their Children with what is necessary to their bodily life and subsistence to the readiness of God to bestow his Spirit that is to all the purposes that are necessary to their Spiritual Life as the parallel plainly implies upon them that ask him So that all we can expect by vertue of these promises is only this That the Spirit of God will be ready to aid and assist us in all those necessary cases wherein our Duty and Spiritual Life is concern'd and therefore if there be no necessity of an immediate inspiration of either Matter or Words to inable us to Pray it is an unwarrantable presumption to expect it by vertue of these or such like promises And that there is no necessity I conceive is very apparent for First As for the Matter of our Prayers the Holy Spirit hath already sufficiently reveal'd it to us in the Gospel and as plainly instructed us what we are to pray for as he can be suppos'd to do by any immediate inspiration so that with a very little consideration we may thence easily recollect what it is that we need and what we are warranted and commanded to pray for and for a summary of the whole we need go no further than our Churches Catechism which in answer to that Question after the Lord's Prayer What desirest thou of God in this Prayer sums up the whole matter of our Prayer in a few plain and easie words And to suppose after such a clear revelation of the matter of Prayer a necessity of immediate inspiration of it is in effect to suppose that we have neither reason enough to understand the sense of plain words nor memory enough to retain and recollect it But against this that passage of St. Paul is objected by our Brethren Rom. 8. 26. We know not what we should pray for as we ought but the Spirit it self maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be utter'd From which words We know not what to pray for as we ought they infer that how plainly soever the matter of Prayer is reveal'd to us we cannot in
of God Secondly Another sign that this admired fluency and enlargement in Prayer proceeds from meer natural Enthusiasm is this that generally in the beginning of the Prayer they find themselves streighten'd and confin'd both as to the matter and words of it till they have Pray'd on for a while and then they grow more ready and fluent which how it should come to pass I know not supposing the Prayer were inspired unless perhaps the Spirit comes in only in the middle or towards the latter end of their Prayer but leaves them to their own invention in the beginning and what reason there should be for such an imagination I confess I am not able to guess The true account therefore of the matter is this that in the beginning of the Prayer their Spirits are usually dull and sluggish and do not flow and reflow so briskly to their heads and hearts as afterwards when they have been throughly chaft and heated with the labour and exercise of invention by which being excited and awaken'd they naturally raise the drooping fancy and render the invention more copious fluent and easie So that meerly by the Laws of Matter and Motion as plain an account may be given of this extemporary fluency and enlargement of Prayer as of any other natural effect whatsoever and therefore for our Brethren to attribute to the immediate inspiration of the Spirit of God that which hath such apparent signs of its derivation from natural causes is I conceive very unwarrantable By all which I think it 's very evident not only that we have no sign of the continuance of this Gift of Inspiration of Prayer remaining among us but that we have manifest signs of the contrary 4. And lastly That to suppose the continuance of this Gift of Inspiration of Prayer is to suppose more than our Brethren themselves will allow of viz. That their conceiv'd Prayers are infallible and of equal authority with the Word of God For if our Prayers are dictated to us by the Spirit of God they must be as infallible as he whose infinite knowledge cannot suffer him to be deceiv'd and whose infinite veracity will not admit him to deceive and if so then whatsoever he dictates or inspires must be remov'd from all possibility of error or mistake and consequently our Prayers must be so too supposing he inspires the matter and words of them And as they must be infallible in themselves so they must be of equal authority with Scripture for that which gives the Scriptures the authority of the Word of God is their being inspired by the Spirit of God and therefore whatsoever matter or words are so inspired are as much the Word of God as any matter or words in Scripture All Scripture is given saith the Apostle by the Inspiration of God And therefore whatsoever is given by his Inspiration must necessarily be his Word for what those Holy Men of God spake who deliver'd the Scripture they spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost 1 Pet. 1. 21. and therefore what they deliver'd was the Word of God because their Mouths were the Oracles through which God spake if therefore when we Pray we are mov'd as they were by the immediate inspiration of God what we pray must be as much the Word of God as what they spake So that either our Brethren must affirm that their conceiv'd Prayers are of equal authority with Scripture which I am sure no sober Dissenter will presume or deny that they are immediately inspired by the Holy Ghost And thus I have shewn what those extraordinary Operations are which the Scripture attributes to the Spirit in Prayer I proceed in the next place to enquire what the ordinary and standing Operations are which the Scripture attributes to him and which he hath promised to continue to the end of the World Of which I shall give but a very brief account because herein we are all agreed In short therefore the ordinary Operations of the Spirit consist in exciting in us the graces and proper affections of Prayer such as shame and sorrow in the confession of our sins a sense of our need of mercy and a hope of obtaining it in our supplications for pardon resignation to God's will and dependance on his goodness in our Prayers for temporal mercies and deliverances hunger and thirst after righteousness in our Petitions for his grace and assistance and in a word gratitude and love and admiration of God in our Praises and Thanksgivings for Mercy For in these divine and gracious Affections the life and soul of Prayer consists as for the Words and Expressions of it about which our Brethren disagree with us they are of no other account with God than as they signifie to him the graces and affections of our Prayers without which he regards them no more than he doth the whistling of the wind and therefore since these affections are the main of our Prayer and words are nothing in his account in comparison with them can any man be so vain as to imagin that those affections will be ever a whit the less acceptable to him because they are presented in a form of words and not in extemporary Effusions Sure that Father would be very capricious that should deny Bread to his hungry Child meerly because he askt it to day in the same words that he did yesterday and to imagin that God will dislike or reject the good affections of our Prayer meerly because they are every day express'd in the same form is to suppose him a very captious Being and one that is more taken with our words than with our affections the contrary of which he hath given sufficient proof of in this very particular in that whereas he hath withdrawn from us as I have prov'd at large the inspiration of the words of our Prayer and left them to the composure of our own or other mens invention he still continues to inspire us with the affections of Prayer and to excite them to a due activity For to this among other purposes it is that he hath promised to continue his Holy Spirit to us to inable us to address our selves to him with devout and holy affections thus Gal. 4. 6. Because ye are sons God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts crying Abba father that is by kindling devout and filial affections in your souls inabling you to cry to God with all earnestness and assurance as to a kind and merciful Father and hence also we are said to Pray in or by the Holy Ghost Jude 20. it being by him that those good affections are rais'd in us that we offer up to God in our Prayers and therefore we may well be said to Pray by the Spirit because 't is by the Spirit that we are inspired with those holy affections which are the soul of our Prayer and accordingly the Spirit is said to make intercession for us with sighs and groans which are not to
CERTAIN Cases of Conscience RESOLVED Concerning the Lawfulness of Joyning WITH Forms of Prayer IN Publick Worship PART I. VIZ. I. Whether the using of Forms of Prayer doth not stint and limit the Spirit II. Whether the using Publick Forms of Prayer be not a sinful omission of the Ministerial Gift of Prayer III. Whether Praying by a Publick Form doth not deaden the Devotion of Prayer LONDON Printed by Henry Hills Jun. for Fincham Gardiner at the White Horse in Ludgate-street 1683. Books Printed by FINCHAM GARDINER A Continuation and Vindication of the Defence of Dr. Stillingfleets Unreasonableness of Separation in Answer to Mr. Baxter and Mr. Lob c. A Perswasion to Communion with the Church of England A Resolution of some Cases of Conscience which Respect Church-Communion The Case of indifferent things used in the Worship of God Proposed and Stated by considering these Questions c. A Discourse about Edification Considerations of present use considering the Danger Resulting from the Change of our Church-Government The Resolution of this Case of Conscience Whether the Church of England ' s Symbolizing so far as it doth with the Church of Rome makes it Unlawful to hold Communion with the Church of England A Letter to Anonymus in Answer to his Three Letters to Dr. Sherlock about Church-Communion A RESOLUTION OF THE Cases of Conscience Which concern the Use of FORMS of PRAYER ONE of the main Points which our dissenting Brethren insist on to justifie their Separation from our Church is That our Publick Worship is perform'd in a Form of Words of Man's Invention which they conceive is unlawful for hereby say some of them the Holy Spirit who inspires our Prayer is stinted and limited and hereby the Gift of Prayer say others which the Holy Spirit communicates to Ministers to inable them to express the Devotions of their Congregations to God is rendred useless and not only so but even the Devotions of the Congregation too are mightily deaden'd by being continually express'd in the same form of words besides that the wants of Christians being various casual and emergent cannot be so fully represented in a fixt Form as in conceiv'd Prayers which upon the account of their variation in Expressions may be the better extended to the continual variations of Mens cases and circumstances besides all which say they we have no warrant for the use of Forms either in Scripture or pure Antiquity and if we had yet an universal imposition of them can by no means be lawfully compli'd with this according to the best recollection I can make is the sum of what our Brethren urge against the lawfulness of joyning with us in a stated Liturgy or Form of Publick Worship and therefore in order to the satisfying their Consciences in this matter I shall reduce their whole Plea to these following Cases and indeavour a plain and clear resolution of them 1. Whether Praying in a Form of Words doth not stint or limit the Spirit of Prayer 2. Whether the Use of Publick Forms of Prayer be not a sinful neglect of the Ministerial Gift of Prayer 3. Whether the constant Use of the same Form of Prayer doth not very much deaden the Devotion of Prayer 4. Whether the common wants of Christian Congregations may not be better represented in conceiv'd Prayer than in a Form of Prayer 5. Whether there be any warrant for Forms of Prayer either in Scripture or pure Antiquity 6. Whether supposing Forms to be lawful the imposition of them can be lawfully compli'd with Case I. Whether Praying in a Form of Words doth not stint and limit the Spirit of Prayer In order to the resolution of this Case it will be necessary to explain first what it is that the Scripture attributes to the Spirit in Prayer and secondly what is meant by stinting or limiting the Spirit in Prayer 1. What is it that the Scripture attributes to the Spirit in Prayer I answer there are some things attributed to him which were extraordinary and temporary and others that are ordinary fixt and standing The through state and distinguishing of which will very much contribute to the resolution of this present Case and therefore I shall insist more largely upon it First I say there are some things attributed to the Holy Spirit in this matter of Prayer which were extraordinary and temporary and that was the immediate Inspiration of the matter of Prayer together with an ability to express and utter it in known or unknown Languages thus as for the immediate inspiration of the matter of Prayer we read in the Old Testament of Prayers and Praises which upon special occasions were immediately indited by Divine Inspiration for so when Hannah presented her Son to the Lord in Shiloh the Text only saith that she praid and said but the Targum paraphrases it that she praid by the Spirit of Prophesie and accordingly praying and praising by immediate inspiration is frequently call'd prophesying So 1 Sam. 10. 5. The Spirit of the Lord shall come upon thee and thou shall prophesie that is as Expositors generally interpret it thou shalt utter Spiritual Psalms and Hymns by immediate inspiration on the place and to the same purpose is the word used Numb 11. 25. 1 Chron. 25. 1. and accordingly in the New Testament it is said of Zacharias that he was filled with the Holy Ghost and prophesied saying blessed be the Lord God of Israel c. The matter of all which Prayers and Praises together with those in the Book of Psalms and sundry others recorded in Scripture was immediately dictated to those inspir'd persons by the Holy Ghost and deliver'd by them without any recourse to their own invention or consideration though as to the words of them it may be justly question'd whether they were not left to their own composure as it seems very probable the words of all other inspirations were for considering how the inspired persons differ'd in their stile according as they differ'd in their education in their natural parts and intellectual improvements it is very likely they themselves composed and worded their own inspirations the Spirit of God taking care only so to oversee and direct them that their words might not misrepresent their matter and if so how much less reason have we to suppose that the Spirit inspires the words of our Prayers but this I shall not insist on However after that great descent of the Holy Ghost at Pentecost wherein the Gift of Tongues was communicated to enable the first Planters of the Gospel to propagate it through the World it 's certain that not only the Matter of their Prayers but even the very Language too in which they express them was immediately inspired insomuch that they were not only inabled to Pray upon the place in apt and fluent Expressions but also to Pray in Languages which they never understood before and which even then they understood but very imperfectly and also to interpret those Prayers into the vulgar
all cases know what it is without an immediate inspiration which must either suppose that all matter of Prayer is not plainly reveal'd to us or that though it be we cannot understand it whereas the Apostles words imply neither the one nor t'other for it 's plain those words we know not what to pray for are not to be understood simply but with reference to as we ought 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for what to pray for as we ought we know not which plainly refers to the manner and not to the matter of our Prayer how to pray for any thing with that fervency of desire that dependance upon and resignation to God as we ought of our selves we know not without the assistance of the Spirit of God if therefore the Spirit hath already sufficiently reveal'd to us what the matter of Prayer is as he must be suppos'd to do if the Scriptures be sufficient I see no necessity why he should reveal it again by immediate inspiration and if there be no necessity of it I know no warrant we have to expect it But then 2. As for the Words of Prayer by which we are to express the Matter of it what necessity can there be that these should be immediately dictated to us when as if we have not quickness enough of fancy and invention to express our wants and desires in our own words we may readily supply that defect by Forms of Prayer of other Mens composure which with very short additions and variations of our own we may easily adapt to all our particular cases and circumstances and to imagin that with such helps and assistances we cannot word our desires to God without an immediate inspiration is to suppose that we are meer whispering Pipes that can breath out nothing but what is breath'd into us 3. That as there is neither promise nor need of any such immediate inspiration of Prayer so there is no certain sign or testimony of it remaining among us whenever God inspir'd men with Divine matter and words his way was always to attest the divinity of their inspiration with some certain sign by which themselves and others might be well assur'd of it and though at this distance from the inspired Ages we cannot certainly determin by what token it was that the Prophets knew the divinity of their own inspirations while they were seiz'd with them yet this we know that after they were deliver'd of them God always took care to attest them by some miraculous operation for so Miracles are styled by the Apostle the evidence and demonstration of the Spirit as being the constant signs and tokens of Divine inspiration and indeed without such signs to distinguish it from false pretences we were better be without inspiration than with it because we shall be left under an unavoidable necessity either of admitting all inspirations which pretend to be divine or of rejecting all that are truly so as to instance in this case of Prayer we know 't is possible for men to have the matter and words of it dictated to them by a natural or Diabolical as well as a Divine Enthusiasm and therefore it is highly requisit if such Divine Enthusiasm or Inspiration be continu'd to us that the proper signs and testimonies of it should be continu'd too that so we may be able to distinguish that which is divine from that which is natural or diabolical otherwise we must either conclude them all to be natural or diabolical or believe them all to be divine and entertain them accordingly If you say there is no need of either because the Scripture is sufficient to distinguish them I answer that though the Scripture may be sufficient to distinguish the matter of the inspiration whether it be true or false yet it is not sufficient to distinguish the inspiration it self whether it be divine or natural or diabolical For First As for natural Enthusiasm it is not at all impossible for a man to pray agreeably to Scripture by natural inspiration by which I mean a natural or accidental fervency of temper arising either from a constant heat of constitution or a casual agitation of the spirits occasion'd either by vapours of heated melancholy or an intermixture of sharp and feaverish humours with the blood which as all men know who understand any thing of the nature and composition of humane bodies naturally heightens and impregnates the fancy and causes the images of things to come faster into it and appear more distinct in it and consequently produces a very ready invention of matter and extraordinary fluency of words so that if under a fit of this natural fervency a man's fancy happens to run upon God and Religion he cannot fail to pray with great readiness and fluency and sometimes with that extraordinary passion and enlargement as shall cause him assuredly to believe himself immediately inspired by the Spirit of God of the truth of which instances enough might be given not only among Christians but also among the Devoto's of Mahomet and the Poets and Orators of the Heathens whose fancies have been very often so strangely exalted by the fervour of their temper or disease that not only they themselves but they that heard them believed that they were inspired by God Supposing then that under a fit of this natural Enthusiasm a man should pray agreeably to Scripture how shall he be able to know by Scripture whether the present inspiration he is under be natural or divine and how will it be possible for him to avoid many times attributing the natural effects of his temper or disease to the immediate operation of the Spirit of God But you will say we all agree that the Spirit of God inspires good men with holy and fervent affections in their Prayers and yet it cannot be deni'd that this fervency of affection doth sometimes also proceed from the present temper of our bodies notwithstanding which we have no other sign or testimony besides that of Scripture whereby to distinguish when 't is divine and when natural doth not therefore the want of such sign as effectually conclude against the Spirits inspiring the fervour of our Prayers as against his inspiring the matter and words of them I answer no For as for the former we have a sure word of promise which we have not for the latter and therefore if we can claim the promise we have just reason to conclude when we feel our affections actually excited that how much soever other causes might contribute to it the Holy Spirit was the principal cause but where we have no promise we have no ground for such conclusion besides which we have no such need of signs to enable us to distinguish in the one case as in the other For as for the inspiration of affection we may easily distinguish whether it be natural or divine by our own sense if our present fervour be accompanied with a fixt and constant devotion of soul we
be uttered Rom. 8. 26. which words are far from asserting the inspiration of the matter and words of our Prayer though they are urg'd by our Brethren for that purpose for as for the matter of Prayer here is not the least hint of the Spirit 's inspiring it for as to that the Christians whom he speaks of were well instructed already by their Christian institution but all that is affirm'd is that the Spirit inabled them to offer up the matter of Prayer to God in a most devout and affectionate manner with sighs and groans that is with earnest and flagrant affections And as for the words of Prayer the Text is so far from implying the inspiration of them that it plainly tells us that those sighs and groans which the Spirit inspired were such as were not to be utter'd or worded And surely to inspire us with affections that are too big for words cannot imply the inspiration of words So that the Spirit 's interceeding for us with sighs and groans that are not to be utter'd can imply no more than his exciting in us the proper affections of Prayer and in this sense he is said in the next Verse to make intercession for the Saints according to the will of God viz. by inabling them to offer up the matter of Prayer to God with such fervent and devout affections as are necessary to render it acceptable to him which is properly to interceed for us for as Christ who is our Advocate in Heaven doth offer up our Prayers to the Father and inforce them with his own intercessions so his Spirit who is our Advocate upon Earth begets in us those affections which render our Prayers prevalent and wings them with fervour and ardency the one pleads with God for us in our own hearts by kindling such desires there as render our Prayers acceptable to him and the other pleads with him for us in Heaven by presenting those desires and soliciting their supply and acceptance And thus you see what that standing and ordinary Operation is which the Scripture attributes to the Spirit in Prayer And now before I proceed to determin the present case I shall only farther inquire what it means by that Phrase of stinting and limiting the Spirit In short therefore to stint or limit the Spirit is a modern Phrase of which there is not the least intimation in Scripture or Antiquity but 't is a term of Art coin'd and invented by our Brethren and appli'd onlyto the present Controversie concerning the lawfulness of Forms of Prayer Which by the way is a plain evidence that this argument against Forms viz. That they stint the Spirit is very new since though Forms of Prayer were used not only in the Scripture Ages as I shall shew hereafter but also in all successive Ages of Christianity yet till very lately we never heard on syllable of stinting or limiting the Spirit by them The meaning of which Phrase is this That by using Forms of Prayer we hinder the Spirit from affording us some assistance in Prayer which otherwise we might reasonably expect from him for so our Brethren explain the Phrase viz. That by confining our selves to a Form of Words we restrain the Spirit from giving us that assistance which he ordinarily vouchsafes in conceiv'd Prayer And now having fully stated the Case the resolution of it will be short and easie It hath been shewn at large that there are two sorts of assistances in Prayer which the Scripture attributes to the Spirit the first extraordinary and temporary viz. the immediate inspiration of the matter and words of Prayer the second ordinary and abiding viz. exciting the devotion and proper affections of Prayer If therefore the Spirit be stinted hinder'd or restrain'd by Forms of Prayer it must be either from inspiring the words and matter or from exciting the affections of Prayer as for the latter to which this Phrase of stinting is never appli'd by our Brethren I shall discourse of it at large in the third Case wherein I shall indeavour to prove that Forms of Prayer are so far from restraining the devotion of it that they very much promote and improve it And as for the former viz. the inspiration of the matter and words of Prayer that I have prov'd was extraordinary and intended only as other miraculous Gifts were for the first propagation of the Gospel and therefore since as to this matter the Spirit hath stinted himself it 's certain that Forms of Prayer cannot stint him for how can that be stinted which is not and if now there be no such thing as immediate inspiration of Prayer how can it be limited by a Form of Prayer In a word if the Spirit of his own accord hath long since withdrawn this Gift of inspiration how can it be now said that he is restrain'd from communicating it by any cause without him Case II. Whether the Use of Publick Forms be not a sinful neglect of the Ministerial Gift of Prayer In order to the resolution of which Case it would be necessary to give a brief state of it according as it is put and urg'd by our Brethren By the Gift of Prayer then they mean an ability to express our minds to God in Prayer or to offer up our desires and affections to him in words befitting the matter of them which ability say they is given by God to his Ministers as a means of publick Prayer and in order to their being the Mouths of their Congregations to God to represent to him the common Cases and Necessities of their People and therefore since God say they hath given us this Gift as a means of publick Devotion and in order to our offering up the Prayers of the People it may be justly question'd whether we may lawfully omit the use of it by using publick Forms of other mens composure Now before I enter into a particular consideration of this Case I shall briefly premise these two things 1. That this Case concerns the Clergy only and not the Laity For suppose that it be unlawful for Ministers to omit the use of their own abilities to express the Devotions of their Congregations what is that to the People are they accountable for their Ministers faults or will God reject their sincere Devotions because the Person that utters them is guilty of a sinful omission if so it will be of dangerous consequence to them to joyn in any publick Prayers at all whether they be Forms or Extemporary they being every whit as accountable for the nonsense impertinence and irreverence of their Ministers in the latter as for their omitting the use of their own abilities in the former if therefore this omission be a sin it is the sin of the Minister as for the People they join'd with him indeed in offering up the matter of Prayer which is contain'd in the Form he pronounces but they join not with him in the omission of the use of his ability that is his own