Sine indecore non potest Seneca as wise a man as he said nihil ordinatum est quod praecipitatur properat There can be no order in sudden conceptions Since therefore it is undecent unorderly let it be consider'd how such persons can observe the precept of the Apostle let all things in the church be done decently and in order If it be asked by any man whether it be unfit to use in private forms of our own composing I answer it may be very fit but this is because this rule of the Apostle which wholly relates to the publick is not a provision for the private for decency is a relative term so is order in private we may deliberate upon our knees but in publick we cannot although we must neither in publick nor in private speak hastily rashly or without sufficient deliberation yet we may do that in private which in publick we may not there we are only to avoid rashness hastiness but in publick we must take care of order also of decency of edification of others all which by extempore prayers cannot be well provided for but my Lord I forget the purpose of my letter which is to pay to your Lordship that just acknowledgment of your care of the Churches good the instruction of souls which you have expressed in this material plain easy religious discourse which I pray God may prove as profitable as it is rational as useful as it is pious My Lord I am Your Lordships most affectionate Brother and Servant J. T. I COR. XIV.XV. What is it then I will pray with the Spirit and will pray with the understanding also THis Text is much abused in this age to justifie praying ex tempore whereby they have destroyed the right use of Prayer and indeed have left us nothing which can truely and properly be called the publick worship of God And it is the highest pitch of sacriledg to make the Scripture it self patronize impiety which we are all bound to oppose and to contend for our most holy faith against them who now under pretence of the Spirit do but cheat you out of your Religion Therefore knowing that I must shortly lay down this my earthly Tabernacle and that I am not like to speak again in publick I desire now to discharge my Conscience as touching that practise and to undeceive the World if it be possible or at least to vindicate this text from being guilty of such prophanation of prayer by shewing the true sense and meaning of it which by the help of God I shall make appear clearly out of the context it self which is the surest way of expounding Scripture And first I desire you to look into the scope and drift of the Apostle who throughout this whole Chapter speaketh of spirituall gifts shewing that all of them are to be referred unto edification as to the right and proper end and therefore he preferreth prophecying or the gift of expounding Scripture before the gift of speaking with tongues because it tendeth more to the edification of the Church ver 3 4 5. And upon the same ground he preferreth prayer in a language that is understood before prayer in an unknown tongue for saith he in the words going before my text If I pray in an unknown tongue my Spirit prayeth that is my minde inspired with that gift doth its part but my understanding is unfruitfull because I do not profit others and so in the words which I have read he resolves what is to be done What is it then that is what is then to be done and he makes answer I will pray with the Spirit and will pray with understanding also Where he expresseth what is to be done by his own resolution which he propounds as a direction for others For when he saith I will pray with the Spirit it is as much as if he had said and I would have you to pray with the Spirit but to pray with understanding also In the words we have two things to consider 1. the duty to be performed is to pray I will pray 2. The manner how it is to be performed exprest in two things first with the Spirit I will pray with the Spirit and then With the understanding also The duty is to pray whereby we are to understand the whole worship of God by invocation I cannot better define what prayer is then the School-men have done in few words calling it desiderium piae mentis ad Deum the unfolding of the desires of an holy mind unto God The Apostle 1. Tim. 2.1 brancheth it into four parts supplications prayers intercessions and giving of thanks 1. Supplication or deprecation for the averting of evil all evill both of sin and of punishment and so it relates to the confession of sin and presupposeth an humble acknowledgment of our offences and of that miserable estate wherein we stand by reason of sin 2. Prayers are the petitions which we make for the good which we want even for all things necessary as well for the body as for the soul for this life as for that better life which is to come 3. Intercessions are the prayers which we put up in behalf of others 4. Giving of thanks when we praise God for his mercies and benefits conceived these four make up a compleat Office of prayer And the Apostle in that place will have Timothy and the rest of the Bishops within his Province to keep a constant publick Office of devotion consisting of these four and so they did for St. Chrisostome tells us that all these were used in the Church in his time and long before And so it appeareth by the Antient Greek Liturgies yet extant Thus you see what it is to pray This is the first and chiefest of all duties The Apostle doth challenge a priority unto it saying I exhort that first of all Supplications and prayers be made he will have that done first of all because it is the first and chiefest for dignity for we honour God by prayer more then we can any other way acknowledging him to be the knower of our hearts the giver of all good and so the stay of our faith and hope in whom only we do trust and we are highly honored for by prayer we have commerce and conference with God we enter into acquaintance and familiarity with him and even walk with God as Enoch did prayer is the first thing wherewith a godly life beginneth and the last thing wherewith it doth end The Saints and Angels in Heaven continually pray and praise God singing Hallelujahs unto God and to the lamb that sitteth on the throne and therefore seeing it is a work common to the Church triumphant as well as militant common to Men with Angels we may well reckon so much of our time as is spent in this holy exercise to be Celestial and Divine And as prayer is the chiefest of all duties for dignity so it is
will pray with the Spirit that is I will use any language which the spirit doth dictate unto me but then I will pray with the understanding also that is if I have prayed in an unknown tongue I will so interpret my prayer that the Congregation shall understand me So that to pray with the spirit and to sing with the Spirit here doth not only expresse an immediate inspiration but particularly that kind of inspiration whereby they prayed and sung in an unknown tongue as is evident by that which followeth Else when thou shall blesse with the Spirit how shall be that occupieth the room of the unlearned say Amen seeing he understands not what thou sayest And the only reason why he cannot say Amen nor understand is because the blessing or thansgiving is in an unknown tongue called here a blessing with the Spirit And again ver 17. thou verily givest thanks well but the other is not edified And the only reason why he is not edifyed is because the thanksgiving is in an unknown tongue So ver 2. speaking in an unknown tongue is called speaking in the Spirit and ver 12. They who are desirous of the gift of tongues are said to be Zealous of Spirits This is so clear that all interpreters ancient and modern except some popish writers who seek to cast a mist upon this text which speaks so plainly against them by the spirit here do understand the gift of tongues Yet I think it more proper by the spirit to understand the mind inspired with that gift which is in effect the very same thing By this which I have said it is manifest that what the Apostle speaks here of praying with the Spirit and singing with the spirit doth not concern us but was an extraordinary and miraculous gift given at first for the conversion of the Nations and laying the foundation of the Church which when the Church was once gathered ceased as did also the gift of Miracles So that they who now pretend that their extemporary effusions are the dictates of the Spirit should do well to shew us some of their Miracles and they should sing with the Spirit also compose the ditty in meeter sing it in a new tune according to the rules of Musick and all this ex tempore and they should pray in Greek or Hebrew or some language which they never well learned and then they might challenge our beliefe but if they cannot do these things they must give me leave to say that they are not the Organs but the apes of the spirit and that it is not the good spirit of God that guides them in such undertakings but their own spirit a spirit of pride arrogancy and presumption of whom we may truely say as was said of the foolish prophets Ezek. 13.3 They follow their own spirit and have seen nothing And yet we must pray with the Spirit that is by the direction and assistance of the holy Spirit St. Jude requireth this of all Christians vers 20. Build up your selves in your most holy faith praying in the holy Ghost for all believers have the Spirit that is the gifts and graces of the Spirit they are led by the Spirit of God Rom. 8.14 And if any Man have not the Spirit of Christ he is none of his Rom. 8.9 The Spirit of God dwelleth in them 1 Cor. 3.16 And where he dwells he is not idle but is still working he becomes unto them First a Spirit of sanctification then a Spirit of Consolation and lastly a Spirit of intercession for saith the Apostle Rom. 8.26 The Spirit 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 which cannot be uttered The Spirit cannot groan but makes us to groan so he is said to make intercession for us because he stirs us up to make intercession This is that which was promised Zach. 12.10 I will powre upon the house of David the Spirit of grace and of supplications But there is great difference between that Spirit which we now receive and the Spirit which they had of whom the Apostle speaks in this Chapter even as there is great difference between the Spirit whereby the Scriptures were given and the Spirit whereby they were afterwards discerned to be the true word of God You shall therefore understand that the Spirit of God is present with men two manner of wayes either by inspiration or by illumination only First by inspiration which is immediate and excludes the use of their own judgment and reason as also their pains and industry such a presence of the Spirit the Apostles Prophets and penmen of holy writ had They speak as they were moved by the holy Ghost saith St. 2 Pet. 1.21 Peter They did not meditate nor devise any thing but were the meer organs of the Spirit which spake by their mouth and wrote by their pen as Zacharie saith in his song He spake by the mouth of his holy Prophets And the Apostle Heb. 1.1 Cod spake unto the Fathers by the Prophets Yea he spake not only by them but in them as Christ saith unto his disciples Math. 10.20 It is not you that speake but the Spirit of your Father which is in you And after this manner were they moved with the Spirit who had the gift of tongues of whom the Apostle speaketh in this Chapter they did not study for what they spake nor take pains to learn it but as the Evangelist saith they were filled with the holy-ghost and spake with other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance Act. 2.4 Again the Spirit is present with Men by illumination only which is not immediate but requires the use of means it doth not exclude but require the use of our own judgment and reason as also our industry and deligence And thus did the Spirit inable the Church to discern the holy books to receive those which were genuine and truly divine and to reject others which pretended the like authority It was not by any Enthusiasme that they knew the Scriptures to be Gods word but they made use of the natural dexterity and sagacity of their own ingine they took much pains in examining these writings and comparing one thing with another and when they used the meanes the Spirit of God did improve their natural faculties help their art and Industry and so aid and assist them that their eyes were opened to discern those interna eriteria markes inhaerent in the word as the divinity of the matter the Majesty of the stile the truth of the predictions and agreement of latter books with those written many hundred years before whereby they were convinced of the verity of these books and that they had God himself for their author And so the Spirit now perswades us of the truth of Gods holy word Christ promised unto us his Spirt to lead us into all truth Joh. 16.13 And yet you know that
it forth at the first Also the prayer which was ordinarily used in the synagogue was that prayer which is entituled the prayer of Moses Ps 90. And besides that song and prayer of Moses they used dayly some of Davids Psalmes And in their feast of Passover they sung no less then six Psalmes even from the 112. to the 119. which they called their great Hallelujah St. Paul concludes all his Epistles with the same prayer the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all the Christian Church from the very beginning hath used in her Liturgy the Psalmes of David the song of the blessed Virgin the song of Zacharie and the song of Simeon And when we use these with true devotion we are sure that we pray with the spirit for all these prayers were in indited by the Spirit of God Or we may use those prayers we find in scripture as patterns and samplers to frame our prayers by For I would have men especially in their private devotions to exercise their own gift provided that they follow the expresses rules and direction which they find in scripture And if they follow that they do pray with the spirit because they pray for such things and in such form as the spirit hath taught us in the word Dr. Taylor doth illustrate this by a very apt similitude which is this as he who prescribes the moddell of a house provides the materialls and sets men on work to set it up is said to build the house though the same be built by other mens hands so the holy Spirit having prescribed us forms of prayer and supplied us with materialls in the word and incited us to pray by promise of reward may well be said to be the Author of our prayers albeit they be composed by our own art and industry The A postle Chap. 12.3 saith No Man can say that Jesus is the Lord but by the holy-ghost Because no Man could truly say it unless the holy-ghost had revealed it in the word And if speaking a truth revealed in the word be a speaking by the holy-ghost why shall not praying in and according to the word be a praying by the holy-ghost The Christans in the Apostles dayes framed divers Psalmes and hymnes to praise God with and the Apostle calleth them spiritual songs Ephes 5.19 Because the matter of them was taken out of Gods word which was given by inspiration so if our prayers be composed according to Gods word they must be accounted spirituall also the same Apostle describing our spirituall armour Ephes 6. biddeth us take the sword of the spirit which is the word of God vers 17. And in the very next words he sheweth us how vve should use that sword saying praying alvvayes vvith all prayer and supplication in the Spirit so that if we do use the sword of the spirit in our prayer praying in and according to the expresses rules and directions vvhich vve sind in the vvord we do pray vvith the spirit Besides those prayers recorded in Scripture which we may use either as prayers or as patterns to frame our prayers by there be many rules and directions given in the word concerning prayer and every thing thereunto belonging I will reduce all into five heads which I can only mention for to examine the particulars would require no less then a volumne 1. We are taught in the word what should be the contents of our prayers namely confession of sin or deprecation Petitions for things necessary intercession for others and giving of thanks and how every one of these should be performed 2. We are taught in the word hovv we should be disposed when we pray that we should sequester our selves from the World and Worldly thoughts set our selves as in the presence of God duely considering our own unworthiness and the great Majesty of God as also the great need we have of these we pray for and the inability of all other means under Heaven to help us unless God be pleased to hear our prayers 3. We are taught in the word to vvhom we should pray to God only and to God rightly conceived one in essence three in person Father Son and Holy-ghost and to this one God in the name of Christ the mediator 4. We are taught what things we should pray for 1 Joh. 5.14 for such things as God hath promised to grant or as St. John saith for such things as are according to his will and for all such things as be necessary either for the soul or for the body but with this caveat that we pray first and chiefly for things spiritual and in the last pace for things temporal and for things temporal only conditionally if it be Gods will and with an exception and reservation of the Cross Lastly we are taught in the word hovv we should pray with reverence and humility with love and charity with faith and confidence to be heard with zeal and fervency with patience constancy and perseverance If we follow these directions and take Gods word for our guide vve are sure that we pray with the spirit As the spirit directs us to pray in the word so he assists us inwardly with his motions for which he is called the spirit of prayer or supplication he is so called because he stirs up helps and inables us to pray First he stirs us up and moveth us to pray for of our selves we have no spirituall disposition to prayer but are averse from it and rather imploy our selves any other way It is the good Spirit of God that inclines our hearts to pray for the Holy-ghost sheddeth abroad the love of God in our hearts as saith the Apostle Rom. 5.5 And this love of God begets in us an earnest desire to seek God and that good which is to be found in him They who are the Children of God and led by his Spirit know this by experience that even when their affections are dull and heavy they feel sometimes on a suddain such a fire kindled within them that they can not long be silent but must vent their desire by prayer David found it so Psal 39.3 My heart was hot within me while I was musing the fire burned then I spake with my tongue Lord make me to know my end c. It was the good Spirit of God who kindled this fire in Davids heart which burst out into the flames of fervent devotion his desire was so great that it made him to cry out O God my heart is prepared I will sing and give praise As the spirit stirs us up and moveth us to pray so he helpeth and inableth us to pray the Apostle saith we know not what we should pray for as we ought nor yet how to pray that is we are not able of our selves to pray with that fervency of spirit that heat of heart such motion of mind such power and such affection as is convenient for the Majesty of God But the spirit helpeth our infirmities
and maketh request for us with groanings which cannot be uttered It can not be truly said of the Spirit of God which is God that he either prayeth or groaneth but the meaning is he hath that operation in our hearts that he maketh us to pray and groan so Gal. 4.6 it is said that the spirit cryeth Abba Father because by him we cry Abba Father as it is exprest Rom. 8.15 If the holy spirit dwell in our hearts he will fill us with holy thoughts and desires He openeth our eyes to see the miserable Estate wherein we stand and what great need we have of Gods grace and help for all things Then he openeth our hearts to pray and openeth our lips also He strikes our hearts with a deep sense of our own misery and wretchedness and with a true consideration of Gods Majesty and greatness and so makes us to pray with reverence and humility he inflames our hearts with love to God and to our Brethren and so makes us to pray in charity he begets in us a confidence to be heard and so makes us to pray in faith he gives us patience and so makes us wait upon God and persevere in prayer And from the power of the Spirit we have those motions kindled in us whereby our prayers are made fervent for it falls out often that when we settle our selves to pray our own hearts do leave us and our minds are wandring abroad not regarding what the tongue speaketh Bernard complaineth much of this saying Nihil in mundo fugatius est corde meo nothing in the World is swifter then my heart it flyeth away and fastneth upon other objects And therefore he used to begin his devotions with exurgat Deus Let God arise and let his enemies be scattered For indeed those wandring thoughts are great Enemies to devotion they arise so thick that they suffer not our prayers to come up unto God As when Abraham offered sacrifice he was no sooner gone from it but the fowles of the air light upon it Gen. 15.6 So when we offer unto God the Calves of our lips it comes to pass through our carelesness and wantonness that many foul thoughts gee upon our sacrifice and defile it But our care must be to drive them away as Abraham did the fowles of the air And for this the spirit of God doth assist us for he calleth us home and putteth us in mind that we are kneeling before the Majesty of God and therefore ought to take good heed what we speak in his presence and to himself The holy Spirit also inflames our affections with zeal so that we pray with fervency of Spirit and utter our desires unto God with sighs which cannot be exprest without this speciall assistance of Gods spirit the best of our prayers are but luke warm as saith St. Austin Tepida est omnis oratio quam non praevenit inspiratio And this leadeth me to a third consideration of praying with the Spirit As to pray with the spirit signifieth to pray by immediate inspiration and in an unknown tongue here in this text and also to pray by the direction and assistance of the holy Spirit Jude 20. So it signifyeth to pray zealously and fervently with earnest and ardent affection and so it is to be taken Ephes 6.18 Praying alwayes with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit that is heartily and fervently So St. Paul worshipped God as he protests Rom. 1.9 God is my wittness whom I serve in my spirit as if he should say I do not serve God for by-ends or in outward appearance and sight of men but I serve him in my spirit heartily fervently sincerely So he would have all who worship God to be fervent in spirit for he joynes them together Rom. 12.11 Fervent in Spirit serving the Lord. This is the only worship that pleaseth God as our Saviour hath taught us John 4.23 The true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth for the Father seeketh such to worship him God is a Spirit and they that worship him must worship him in spirit that is they must joyne their heart and spirit with the outward performance That worship pleaseth God for the Father seeketh such to worship him But if the heart be wanting and the spirit dull the outward art though never so formally done will not please God as appeareth by what the Lord himself saith Esa 29.13 This people draw near me with their mouth and with their lips do honour me but have removed their heart far from me The like complaint we have Jer. 12.2 Thou art near in their mouth and farr from their reins And Hos 7.14 They cryed not unto me with their heart when they howled upon their beds Where we finde that Hypocrites did pray and cry and howle to but the Lord did not regard it because it was not with their heart For God is a spirit and looketh especially to the inward disposition of the spirits of men he first of all requireth the heart Prov. 23.26 My Son give me thine heart Look whatsoever duty he requireth of us he will have it done with the heart and with all the heart we must seek the Lord with all our heart cleave unto the Lord with all our heart serve him with all all our heart turne unto him with all our heart love him with all our heart obey him with all our heart follow him with all our heart praise him with all our heart And so also pray unto him with all our heart and not with our lips only for prayer is not a powring out of the lungs but of the heart and soul before God as Hanna saith 1 Sam. 1.15 I have powned out my Soul before the Lord. And so David exhorteth us Psal 62.8 Yea People pour out your hearts before him And as we are to pray with all our heart so with all our might that is with the whole strength and endeavour of our soul and all the faculties of it It is said of David 2. Sam. 6.14 That he danced before the Lord with all his might That was a worship of God a spirituall worship wherein David by his outward act of dancing did express his exultation and rejoycing in the Lord and the text saith the did it with all his might borrowing a Metaphor from bodily exercise For as a man is said to Wrestle with all his might when he useth all his force and putteth all his strength to it even so we worship God with all our might when all the faculties and powers of our souls are concentrated and united together in the performance of that work then do we wrestle with God as Jacob did or strive in prayer as the Apostle exhorts us Rom. 15.30 I beseech you bretheren that ye strive together with me in your prayers to God for me So did David worship God for he danced before the Lord with all his might to express his joy for bringing home of the Arke And as
A Discourse of PRAYING WITH THE SPIRIT And with the UNDERSTANDING WHERE Of Extemporary Prayer Of Premeditate Prayer Of Set Forms of Prayer Preached in two Sermons at HILLSBOROUGH Anno 1659. By Henry Leslie maugre all Antichristian opposition Bishop of Down and Conner And now published for the Redresse of the great abuse of Prayer in that Diocesse whereof he had and ought to have a Charge Whereunto is annexed A Letter of JER TAYLOR D.D. Concerning the same Subject ECCLES 5.2 Be not rash with thy mouth and let not thine heart be hasty to utter any thing before God for God is in Heaven and thou upon Earth therefore let thy words be few LONDON Printed for John Crooke and are to be sold at the Ship in St. Pauls Church-Yard 1660. My LORD I Am well pleased your Lordship hath consented to publish Your excellent Sermons concerning extempore prayer You preach'd them in a family in which the publick Liturgy of the Church is greatly valued and diligently us'd but in a Country where most of the Inhabitants are strangers to the thing and enemies to the name for so they are taught to be having no other reason for that enmity then because their preachers have blastedit with the breath of their displeasure But instead of this they are fed with indeliberate unstudied sudden conceptions begotten and born in the same minuit and therefore not likely to be better than all those other productions of the world which by being sudden and hasty have an inevitable fate to be useless and good for nothing My Lord I have often considered concerning the pretensions of those persons who think no prayer is good if it be studied and none spiritual unlesse it be extempore and that only such are made by the Spirit and perceiving them to relie upon the expression of St. Paul I will pray with the Spirit I have thought that they as little study what they teach to men as what they say to God for if they did not understand with the Spirit in the same sense as they pray with the Spirit that is without all study and consideration I am verily perswaded they would not have fallen upon this new and unheard of practise I say unheard of for it is a new thing both to Heathens to Jews and to Christians and indeed must be so since in the very Nature of the thing it self it appears to be infinitely unreasonable For what greater disparagement in the World can there be to him that speaks or the thing spoken than to say it was spoken rashly and inconsiderately And therefore it was an excellent saying of one Oratio viri Philosophisicut vita debet esse composita every wise mans words should be compos'd and orderly as his life 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with labour and consideration And certain it is if any man intends to speak well and wisely he does not vomit out his answers as a fool does secrets he is sick till they are out and when they are they are loathsome Of this I need say no more but it is evident all such extempore prayers are likely to be lesse wise and to use such wayes of prayer is against Reason 2. To do so is against the vertue of Religion It is a doing the work of the Lord negligently and therefore unpleasantly and to this is to be imputed all those unhandsome issues of a sudden tongue which so ill become Religion that they very often minister offence to wise and godly persons of all perswasions 3. Hasty and unstudied prayers are against Scripture expressely I say against the word of God whose spirit hath commanded thus Eccl. 5.2 Be not rash with thy mouth and be not hasty to utter any thing before God Now this commandement is plain and easy and therefore not to be evacuated by any obscure and difficult pretences from which no certain argument can arise To which if we add that S. Paul amongst the characters of these of whom he prophecies evil things 2 Tim 3. reckons 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the hastie and headie people I humbly conceive that these are the persons in the new Testament who break the commandement in the old and that they must have something else to defend them then what hath yet appeared But therefore these our brethren pretend that the spirit of God supplies all this and what is wanting in nature is supplied by grace To this I need to make no new replies but only consider that where there is an unavoidable necessity we have reason to suppose we shall be helped but we have no such need we are taught in scripture by the H. Spirit what to pray and how to pray and beyond this assistance we need nothing save only that he be pleased to stir us up to pray for that also we have arguments and invitations sufficient in the divine scripture and I humbly conceive it is one sort of tempting God to call for extraordinary aides when we are sufficiently provided for in ordinary and I appeal to the piety and consciences of all christian Ministers whether the Spirit of God hath not sufficiently enabled us in all the parts and necessities of prayer by the treasures of holy scripture And 2. whether by reading meditating in the scriptures we cannot obtain all the aids we need And 3. Whether or no do not those Ministers that are suppos'd to pray best amongst them most of all use the phrases and expressions of scripture And 4. Whether or no are not such prayers undeniably the best which are taken thence 4. But that I need no farther argument in this question I appeal to the experience of this last age in which extempore prayer have been born bred whether it can be reasonable to allow such sudden prayers to be productions of the spirit when we have heard many spiritual crimes express'd promoted by such prayers by those that pretended to such gifts the consequent of which is certainly this that to prove a man to pray with the spirit something else is required besides speaking extempore that this is not therefore it because many do this who do like Ananias Saphira 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 bely or falsly pretend the spirit who cannot dictate false haeretical rebellious blasphemous or ignorant propositions and yet it is certain if these men who pray ex tempore did pray with the spirit that is if the spirit of God did dictate those words those prayers would be as good canonical scripture when they are written by the short hand writers as any of the plalms of David or the words of the Apostles Which because it is intollerable to affirme it follows that praying with the spirit means not extempore prayers 5. I add but one thing more and that is that Dideclavius the great patron of our dissenting brethren said in his Altare Damascena that the master of a family could not without undecency pray with such sudden conceptions before a family
of great force and efficacy St. James saith the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous Man availeth much Cap. 5.16 it availeth to the turning away of all evil from us and to the procuring of all good unto us it is the key that openeth the Cabinet of Heaven and draweth down Gods blessings upon us it is the bucket wherewith we draw grace out of the well of Salvation it is our strong tower whether we betake our selves in the time of trouble it is the weapon wherewith we put to flight all our Enemies spiritual and corporal Prayer conquereth Heaven and even overcometh God himself for Exod. 33.10 when Moses came to interceed for the People after their great transgression the Lord said unto him Let me alone that I may consume them as if he had found himself mastered by Moses his prayer and could not destroy them unless Moses did forbear to pray for them And if prayer be of such force you may be sure that it is most necessary It is necessary both necessitate finis and necessitate praecepti both in respect of the end that our own wants may be supplied and in respect of Gods commandement it being a duty which he requireth from us But I cannot now stand to speak of these things This holy religious duty of service concerns us one way as we are Men another way as we are parts of a community members of the Church and so prayer is either private or publick For private prayer we are at our own choice for time place and form according to the exigence of our occasions in private But publick prayer requires a certain time a publick place a consecrated person and known form wherein all may joyn this publick prayer is of farr more worth then the private prayer of any one for it is more forcible and likely to prevail with God by reason of the multitude of suppliants who being assembled together do besiege God with their prayers saith Tertullian and these forces are unto him acceptable Now it is of publick prayer that the Apostle speaks here for he speaks of prayer in the Church when they are assembled together which he will have so done that the Church may understand and be edified by it In our private devotions we may use any language which we our selves understand but the Minister of publick prayer must use only that language which is commonly understood by the People and so pray not only with the Spirit but with the understanding also And so I am come to the manner how this duty is to be performed exprest in two things with the Spirit First I will pray with the Spirit What Spirit we need not travail far to find out what is meant by the Spirit albeit it hath many divers acceptions in Scripture For what the Apostle calls the spirit in this Text he calls his Spirit in the former verse If I pray in an unknown tongue my Spirit prayeth And it is not likely that he would call any thing his Spirt but his own natural Spirit called the Spirit of a Man Cap. 2.11 Who knoweth the things of a Man save the Spirit of a Man That is his mind But then you may say unto me how comes the Spirit here to be opposed unto the understanding I answer that albeit the Spirit and understanding be here distinguished yet they are not distinct faculties but one and the same faculty even the mind of Man which in one respect is called the Spirit in another the understanding It is called the Spirit either as it is ravished beyond it self by Divine inspiration or as it is elevated above it self by illumination or as it is inflam'd with earnest and ardent affection And the same faculty when it is imployed to teach others and to make them understand what it hath conceived is called the understanding so that to pray with the Spirit signifieth three things 1. To pray by immediate inspiration which was peculiar to the Prophets Apostles and those who had extraordinary indowments 2. To pray by the direction and assistance of the holy Spirit which is common to all believers 3. To pray fervently with earnest and ardent affection Here are three senses of praying with the Spirit also found in Scripture and a fourth sense no man can imagine nor any thing in this phrase which favoureth our praying ex tempore First to pray with the Spirit is to pray by immediate inspiration when he that prayeth is the mere organ of the Spirit uttering only that which the Spirit of God doth dictate he maks no use of his own Judgment and reason either in divising of the matter or choosing of the words but speaks only that which the Spirit doth suggest Thus the Apostles Prophets and penmen of holy writ were inspired for St. Peter saith 2 Pet. 1.21 they speak as they were moved by the Holy-Ghost And after this manner were they inspired who had the gift of tongues after that miraculous effusion of the Spirit on the day of Pentecost for saith the Evangelist they speak with other tongues Act. 2.4 as the Spirit gave them utterance Of these the Apostle speaks here and throughout this whole Chapter for there were at that time divers such in the Church of Corinth who sopke prayed and sung in an unknown tongue whereby the People were not edified but amazed and the Apostle here corrects the abuse of that gift and will have all gifts used to edification so that if any man make use of the gift of tongues in the Church he will either have him to interpret what he saith ver 5. Greater is he that prophesieth then he that speaketh with tongues except he interpret that the Church may receive edifying And ver 13. Let him that speaketh in an unknown tongue pray that he may interpret Or he will have some other to interpret for him Ver. 27. If any Man speak in an unknown tongue let one interpret Or if there be no interpreter then he will haâ—e him to hold his peace and make no use of that gift in the Church ver 28. But if there be no interpreter let him keep silence in the Church for that miraculous gift of tongues was given for the conversion of the Nations as he saith verse 22. Tongues are for a sign that is a miracle not to them that believe but to them that believe not As if he should say there is no Use of that Gift among believers who had no need so to be convinced by miracles but to be edifyed by wholsome Doctrine Now our Apostle as he had the gift of tongues and spake with tongues more then they all as he saith ver 18. so he had the gift of interpretation and therefore resolves that if he made any use of that gift in the Church he would so interpret what he said that the Congreation should understand him And this is the true meaning of the words of my Text as they are well glost by Piscator I
we must use the means we must seek and labour to find out the truth for we must search the Scriptures John 5.39 we must seek wisedom as silver and search for her as for bidden treasurs Prov. 2.4 we must separate our selves and seek wisdom as it is Proverbs 18.1 Through desire a Man having separated himself seeketh and intermedleth with all wisdom First the holy Spirit stirs up in us a desire of heavenly wisdom then this desire makes us to separate our selves from the World and worldly thoughts to retire into the closet of our own hearts by holy meditation and to seek God diligently in the use of the means and then the wisdom of God which before seemed foolishness is by the illumination of the Spirit made so known unto us that we cannot but discern and admire it So much the Apostle hath taught us Chap. 2.13 saying we speak not in the words which mans wisedom teacheth but which the holy ghost teacheth comparing spirituall things with spirituall things Where we see that the Holy-Ghost doth teach us words which mans wisedom cannot teach but it is upon our cooperation our study and endeavour while we compare spiritual things with spiritual things And so the holy Spirit worketh faith in us faith is the gift of God of God only he not only gives the power to believe but also brings forth the art as the Apostle tells us Philip. 1.29 It is given unto you for to believe Faith is reckoned amongst the gifts of the Spirit Gal 5.22 And the Apostle mentioneth the Spirit of faith 2 Cor. 4.13 And yet the Spirit doth not work faith in us without means but requireth our own endeavonrs for saith St. Augustine He who made thee without thine own help will not justifie thee without thine own help we must use the means diligently hear read and meditate in Gods word for faith cometh by hearing Rom. 10. 17. And they who neglect to use the means must never think that the holy spirit will inspire them immediately with the grace of faith Thus you see how the holy spirit now worketh in directing the Church to discern the canonicall books in perswading us of the truth of Gods word in leading us into all truth and in begetting the grace of faith in us that in all these he requireth our own endeavours and consequently he requireth the same in all his other gifts and productions Therefore I may safely conclude that so and no other wayes the spirit inableth us to pray namely in the use of means both natural and artificiall That prayer is the gift of the spirit no man can deny for saith the Apostle we know not what to pray as we ought but the Spirit helpeth our infirmities Rom 8.26 where I desire you to observe the word which the Apostle useth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it is a double compound an ingeminate expression and signifieth that he joynes in relieving he bears or lifts with us helping us in our labours together with him So that if we would have the holy Spirit help us to pray we must labour we must make use of our own judgment and reason and not only make use of our natural faculties but also of our learning and industry we must diligently read and meditate in Gods word that we may be acquainted with the style of the holy ghost and there learn to frame our prayer aright both for the matter and for the forme And when we thus study the addresses which we make unto God we may be sure of the direction and assistance of the spirit for God helpeth industry and his spirit now worketh by means and then most assists us when we most endeavour So that albeit we cannot now pray by immediate inspiration and in a strange tongue yet we may and must pray by the direction and assistance of the spirit in the use of the means The spirit directs us to pray in the Word and assists us inwardly with his motions He directeth us to pray in the word for there we have many Godly prayers psalmes and hymnes recorded for our use And we may use them either as prayers or patterns to frame our prayers by First we may use them as prayers for no prayer that we can make can be compared with them for piety and devotion neither can any man now presume to have such a measure of the spirit as those holy penmen had whose prayers and hymnes are by the spirit of God consigned unto the use of the Church for ever And so some of them have been alwayes used for that wild conceit that now possesseth men was not known in former ages namely that our prayers should wast themselves away in the making and like smoak vanish in the ascending that they should never be reiterated but still conceived new and that as often as we make our adresses unto God we should vary both our matter and words This is the divinity of many men in this age who measure God by their own bellies thinking that he doth loath to have the same sacrifices offered dayly as they do to be fed still with the same meat without change of dyet But such devotion was never known unto the people of God for they alwaies practised the contrary The Priests under the law by Gods own direction used the same words in blessing the people every day which are set down Numb 6.24 25 26. David at the removing of the Ark used the same prayer Psal 68.1 which was at first composed by Moses for that use Numb 10.35 Let God arise and let his enemies be scattered The same David composed many prayers and psalmes for the use of the Tabernacle the Ninety second Psalm is entituled a song for the sabbath day the same being composed to be sung every sabbath when there was a holy convocation unto the Lord. It is said 2. Cron. 29.30 That Ezekiah the King and the Princes commanded the Levites to sing prayses unto the Lord with the words of David and of Asapth the Seer The Prophet Hosea prescribes unto the repenting Isralites a set form of prayer which he will have them to use Chap. 14.2 take with you words and turn to the Lord say unto him take away all iniquity and receive us gratiously so will we render the calves of our lips c. John the Baptist taught his disciples a form of prayer as appeareth Luke 11.1 And Christ hath taught us a most exquisite form and hath commanded us to use it saying when you pray say our Father c. But now that prayer is rejected and a countermand given when you pray say not our Father and certainly such a direct opposition against Christ must needs proceed from the spirit of Antichrist St. John Rev. 15.3 saw in a vision those who had gotten the victory over the beast praising God and they sung the song of Moses the Jews in their dayly liturgy used the song of Moses albeit they never had the same occasion again which brought
he danced with all his might so he praised God with all his might for resolving to praise God Psal 103.1 He summons all the faculties of his Soul together for the performance of that worke Blesse the Lord O my soul and all that is within me blesse his holy name So Psal 35.10 he promiseth that all his bones that is all his strength shall be exercised in prayer All my bones shall say Lord who is like unto thee c. And so should we worship God if we would pray with the Spirit we must pray with all our might even with the whole strength and endeavour of our soul so that there be a concurrence of all the faculties and powers of it of the understanding the will the heart and affections First our understanding must concurr David exhorts us to sing praises with understanding Psal 47.7 So we must pray with understanding and know well what we ask that it is good for us and agreable to Gods will otherwise God who would not accept of a blind sacrifice under the Law Mal. 1.8 will farr less accept of a blind devotion under the Gospel for all our spiritual sacrifices should be a reasonable service as St. Paul saith Rom. 12.1 therefore our understanding and reason must be occupyed in it else it is not reasonable Peter made a motion for making of three Tabernacles one for Christ one for Moses and one for Elias but our Saviour took no notice of it because he knew not what he said Luke 9.33 The sons of Zebedee preferred a suit unto Christ but did not obtain it because they knew not what they asked Math. 20.22 So we may say of all ignorant Papists who say their prayers in Latine that they ask they know not what their devotion is blind their sacrifice is no reasonable service for they make a sound and utter words but with out understanding like Plinie's Raven which could say Ave Caesar imperator or like Cardinall Ascanius his Parrat Lib. 3. cap. 32. In Ps 18. which as Caelius Rodiginus reports was taught to pronounce all the articles of the Creed It is St. Austines comparison and the argument which he useth to diswade men from praying or singing in a language they understand not God hath endued us with reason and understanding and we should use it when we worship God and therefore understand what we pray Again as the understanding so also the will must concurr for nothing is done well but that which is done with the will The Apostle will have all our spirituall sacrifices to be living or quick Rom. 12.1 Now that is said to be living which moveth of it self and that to be dead which doth not move but by outward forcer our prayers must be a living sacrifice and therefore not drawn from us by sickness and pain or by fear or apprehension of danger nor should we pray for ostentation to get applause of men as did the Pharisees nor pray only formally and customarily as performing a taske imposed upon us but we should pray so willingly freely cheerfully that it be our delight to power out our souls before God Finally the heart must concurr and we pray with vehement affection and with an earnest desire of those things which we pray for Look how earnestly a condemned Malefactour begs for his life or a hunger starved beggar for an almes as earnestly must we begg Gods mercie If we pray but coldly and faintly without any great desire of those things which we ask we do ask like Swine who esteem not of pearls but trample them under their feet And so vve give God occasion to deny us for qui timide rogat docet negare Christ vvill have us not only to ask but also to seek and knock He vvill have us earnest Math. 7.17 Luk. 11.5 Math. 15.22 Luk. 18.1 Psal 103. as vvas the man that came to borrovv bread at midnight Instant as vvas the Cananitish Woman Importunate as vvas the Widdovv vvith the Judge crying unto God out of the depths as David did that is from the depth of our hearts For it s only the fervent prayer of a righteous man that availeth much as S. Jam. saith this fervent prayer draweth sighes groans from the heart which cry loud in the ears of God The Lord said unto Moses Exod. 14.15 Wherefore cryest thou unto me and yet Moses spake not one vvord but his Spirit prayed vvithin him and so fervent vvas his prayer that it vvas as a shrill shreek in the ears of God Hannah uttered not her voice 1 Sam. 1. but she prayed so fervently that her lips shook vvithal and she obtained her suit And as in fervent prayer there must be great intentention of affection so also great attention of mind vve must labour to have our minds vvell composed and settled vvhen vve pray free from cares and vvandring thoughts and intent only upon that vvhich vve are about for hovv can vve think that God should hearken unto us vvhen vve do not hearken unto our selves or he be mindfull of us vvhen vve do not mind vvhat vve say unto him Christ giving direction for private prayer Bids us Enter into our closet and shut the doores behind us to avoid ostentation so vve had need to enter into the closet of our heart and shut the door behind us barring out all vvorldly thoughts to avoid distruction We should at least give unto God that respect vvhich civility teacheth us to give unto men especially our superiours not to turne avvay our mind till our tale be done Christ prayed often in a Mountain John 17.1 apart from the World and he lift up his eyes to Heaven vvhen he prayed so should vve turne avvay our hearts from all the creatures and have them vvholy fixed bent and set upon God Thus if vve pray by the direction of the vvord and vvith the assistance of the Spirit zealously and fervently vve are sure that we pray vvith the Spirit And this is the only praying vvith the spirit that can be expected from us novv vvho have not the gift of tongue nor any immediate inspiration Our next care must be to pray vvith Understanding as it follovveth in the text I will pray with understanding also That is I vvill pray so as the congregation may understand me that this is the meaning of the words is evident by that which followeth else if thou shalt bless with the Spirit that is as St. Ambrose well expounds it If thou utter the praise of God In 1 Cor. 14. in a tongue unknown to the hearers how shall he that occupieth the room of the unlearned say Amen seeing he understands not what thou sayest Thou verily givest thanks well but the other is not Edifyed So that to pray or blesse vvith understanding is to pray so as the unlearned may be able to say Amen understand what we say and be edifyed by it And again ver 19. In the Church I had rather speak five
words with my understanding that by my voice I might teach others then ten thousand words in an unknown tongue Where he expounds speaking with understanding to be a teaching of others by our voice and he opposeth it to speaking in an unknown tongue So that there can be no doubt of the meaning of these words but that to pray with understanding is to pray so as to be understood Therefore Beza renders it well Precabor intelligentiâ I will pray with intelligence that is to the understanding of others this is indeed the scope and purpose of the Apostle throughout this whole Chapter to shevv that all spirituall gifts should be used to edification for there were at that time divers in the Church of Corinth who having the gift of tongues prayed and sung in an unknown tongue whereby the People were not edified but amazed and the Apostle here corrects the abuse of that gift and will have nothing spoken in the Church but that whereby the Church may receive edifying And if he would not suffer them to pray in an unknown tongue which they had by miracle and special gift of the holy Spirit farr lesse would he suffer men now to pray in an unknown tongue which they have not by miracle or any gift of the Spirit but by their own study and labour They of Corinth did pray with the Spirit though they did not pray with understanding but they of Rome pray neither with the Spirit nor with understanding The Apostle in this Chapter sets himself so much against that practice as if he had seen that which hapned afterwards in the Western Church to have all their prayers in latine after that the Latine tongue ceased to be the known vulgar tongue understood by the People He useth at least eight or nine arguments against it which I cannot now stay to repeat but the summ of them all is this that all things in the Church should be done to edification and so also prayer but no man is edified by hearing that which he understands not This he amplifieth in many words ver 2 6 7 8 9 11 14 16 17 19 26. And indeed disputes so strongly against that practice that the Papists may do well to turn this whole Chapter out of their Bibles as they have done the second commandement out of their primmers for it speaketh clearly against prayer in an unknown tongue And so it was understood by all the antient Fathers and the Church for above six hundred years after Christ did religiously observe the Apostles direction so that all Nations converted to the faith had their prayers in their Common vulgar tongue as have been fully proved by the learned Jewel Artic. 3. of England And the same is confest by many learned Papists Aquinas Aenaeas Sylvius Durand Lyra Eckius and Mr. Harding albeit he strugle hard to instance the contrary yet being overcome by evidence of truth he maketh this confession this was necessary in the primitive Church when the faith was a learning and therefore they had their prayers in a common known tongue Against Jewel Artic. 3. And is it not as necessary now for the faith is still a learning and albeit there be not such need of miracles now as then yet there is as great need of edification therefore let us have a care still to pray with understanding APPLICATION I Have now done with my text and will only labour to bring it home by application that you may perceive what is my drift in this discourse and what is the use that I would have you make of it It is agreed by all Christians that there should be publick prayers in the Church and by all Protestants that these prayers should be in a known vulgar tongue the question that now troubleth us is whether these prayers should be extemporary or premeditate and if premeditate whether the private meditation of the Minister alone or a common known forme wherein all may joyn And if we will admit the Apostle to be Umpire he will afford us a clear determination of that controversie out of this text For certainly that prayer should be used in the Church which is most likely to be both with the spirit and with the understanding but so is not extemporary prayer It is neither with the spirit nor yet with understanding Not with the spirit for I told you before that we cannot now pray by immediate inspiration and in an unknown tongue but by the direction and assistance of the spirit and that the spirit directeth us to pray in the Word and assists us inwardly with his motions But they who pray without advice and consideration cannot follow the direction of the word nor yet promise unto themselves the assistance of the Spirit They cannot follow the directions of the word for to follow that will require some study and deliberation No man can make a thing after a pattern or make one thing like unto another but it will require some study and advise to compare them together and to fit the coppy to the samplar so we cannot make a compleat prayer consisting of confession petitions for things necessary intercessions and giving of thanks and square all these according to the rule of the word but we must take some time to study and advise with the Word for it is not every confession that will please God nor every petition that he will accept of we may err in our prayers and err so dangerously that our prayer be turned into sin as David saith St. James telleth us of many that ask amiss Psal 109. James 4 3. rhe Disciples themselves did it when they desired fire to come down from heaven and consume the Samaritans vvhich was not good The Sons of Zebedee desired to fit one on Christs right hand the other on his left and though that was good yet it was not a thing fit for God to grant If they were not priviledged from error farr lesse are We and therefore vve had need to advise vvell our prayers taking Gods Word for our guide vve should think before we speak and even after that we have thought we must not presume to lay our thoughts upon Gods Altar till first we have vveighed them in the ballanes of the sanctuary As they vvho pray vvithout study and deliberation cannot follovv the directions of the vvord so neither can they promise unto themselves the assistance of the spirit for Gods spirit vvorketh by means and then most assists us vvhen vve most endeavour I shevved unto you before that the spirit in all his other gifts and productions requireth our endeavours and consequently he requireth the same in our prayers and that the Apostle in that place Rom. 8.26 where he speaketh of the spirits helping us to pray useth a word which doth import our own study and labour for it signifieth that he helpeth us in our labours together with him so that if we would have the spirit help us to pray vve
must labour and use the meanes Yea vvhatsoever God hath promised unto us vve must use the means if vve vvould obtain it When Paul vvas in danger of shipwrack Act. 27. The Angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a vision by night and assured him that he should be safe and all that were with him in the Ship and so much he told the Centurion ver 24. yet a little after when the Mariners were about to fly out of the Ship Paul said to the Centurion except these Men abide in the Ship ye cannot be saved ver 31. God had promised that they should be all safe yet they must use the means else they cannot be saved So God hath promised that the spirit shall assist us to pray but we must use the means and we will find that study and premeditation doth soonest purchase the gift of prayer and that the spirit of prayer is most vigorous in him who deliberates most prudentially But extemporary prayers ponied out with out any deliberation are so full of indigested crudities that they do not savour of the Spirit For the Spirit of God is a Spirit of wisdom he gave unto Isaiah the tongue of the learned not a tongue without learning Christ promised unto his disciples a mouth and wisdom not a mouth without wisdom for a tongue without learning and a mouth without vvisdom are no gifts of the spirit albeit they be in great request in this age with many who reckon nothing spoken with the Spirit unless there be never a wise word in it The speech which St. Paul requireth in a Bishop is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 speech according to learning Tit. 1.9 And so St. Peter will have us speak as beseemeth the Oracles of God And therefore not lightly or inconsiderately It is said Act. 2.4 That the Spirit gave them utterance where the word in the Original is farr more pregnant 1 Pet. 4.11 for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifieth as much as to spake Apothegmes or wise sentences and so it is said ver 11. that they spake Magnalia Dei great and high points not Trivialia base course stuffe not worth the time it vvasteth So that they are farr injurious unto the Spirit of God vvho father their nonsence upon him Unto this Counsel of Solomons I will add the like advico from the Son of Syrach who was vvell acquainted with Solomons instructions and speaketh his sense he saith Eccles 18.23 Before thou prayest prepare thy self and be not as one that tempteth the Lord. If we must prepare our selves before we pray then we must advise well what to say in our prayers they who neglect this and pray without deliberation do not prepare themselves before they pray but tempt the Lord because they neglect the means and depend upon an extraordinary assistance and immediate inspiration as if God should still work miracles only to justifie their fancy And as extemporary prayer is not with the Spirit so neither is it with understanding at least not so much to the understanding of others as premeditate and well digested prayer For a Man may pray in the vulgar tongue and yet not be well understood for want of matter want of method want of sit expressions as also by reason of many Tautologies tedious repetitions and empty words signifying nothing all which are found in extemporary prayers so that vve may say of them truly as it is Job 35.16 They multiply words without knowledge The Apostle here will have the prayers of the Church to be such that the unlearned may say A men but neither learned nor unlearned can say A men to those extemporary prayers which are now in use nor he himself who hath prayed when he hath done he cannot truly say A men for he hath spoken a long time like a Man in a trance But can hardly tell what he hath said This is not to pray with understanding And this draweth after it another great inconvenience vvhich is this that they who have no other prayers in their Congregations but such as are poured out ex-tempore can never perswade a Papist to come into their communion for albeit they should convince him of the truth of their doctrine that it is Orthodox yet they can never perswade him of the goodness of their worship that it is free from exception because they cannot tell him what it is or that it is any thing but what every ministers fancy doth suggest unto him in the very instant when he is praying And this must needs stagger him who otherwise might prove a convert and make him resolve rather to continue in the communion of his own Church where albeit all their prayers be in latine yet he is sure that they have the publick approbation of the Church then to joyn with a Congregation where either there is no worship at all or that which is pretended to be worship hath no publick approbation and is but little better understood then is their Latine service Indeed neither of them is to edification Thus you see that this Text doth no wayes justifie praying ex tempore but condemne it And I have divers other exceptions against it and will only briefly point at the chiefest of them and so conclude And first I desire you to consider Solomons advice Ecclesiastes 5.2 Be not rash with thy mouth and let not thine heart be hasty to utter any thing before God now when we pray unto God we utter our mind unto him and I know not who are hasty and rash too if they be not who utter their mind as fast as it comes and never think what they are to say unto God but vvhen they are saying it and then speak quicquid in buccam venerit vvhat ever comes uppermost certainly this is not according to Solomons advice And he backs his precept with a strong reason taken from the infinite distance between God and us For God is in Heaven and thou upon Earth God is in Heaven full of glory Majesty and power and vve upon the Earth dust and ashes unclean worms this consideration should breed in us a reverential awe of the Majesty of God make us wary what we offer unto him and carefull that we offend not with our tongue and therefore to advise well our prayers least through inadvertence and want of consideration we offer strange fire upon Gods altar and he cast back on our faces the dung of our sacrifice They belie the Spirit of God and greatly dishonour him when they pretend him to be the Author and inditer of their wild impertinent discourse which no wise Man would willingly own And sometime in their prayers they vent both Heresie and Blasphemy and so intitle the holy-spirit not only to their folly but also to their impiety which is a blaspheming of the holy-ghost Again consider that God commanded in the Law Dcut. 16.16 that they should not appear before him empty but bring their offerings with them And albeit those outward sacrifices
did belong unto the ceremonial worship and are now abrogated by the sacrifice of Christ upon the Cross yet there is a morality in that precept which still bindeth us to offer something unto God in acknowledgment of that homage which we owe unto our Creator and what that is the Psalmist telleth us Psal 50.14 Offer unto God thanksgiving and pay thy vows unto the most high and call upon me c. But they who pray ex tempore bring nothing with them to offer but take it upon a suddain even after they have presented themselves before the Lord. Which must needs be a dough-baked sacrifice unworthy to be offered unto God for he requireth a sacrifice without blemish the very choice of the Flock And when they did offer him the refuse the blinde and the the lame Exod. 29.1 Levit. 22.19 20 21. he bid them offer it unto their Governour Mal. 1.8 And vers 14. he calleth them deceivers which did so and cursed them cursed be the deceiver which hath in his flock a male and voweth and sacrificeth unto the Lord a corrupt thing for I am a great King saith the Lord of hosts This reason is full of moral equity God is a great King and therefore look what respect you give unto your prince you must give no less unto him you will not offer unto your prince a naughty thing but the very best in its kind of any thing that you have so that which you offer unto God must be the best even in humane estimate When you are to appear before your Prince you will present your selves with great reverence bowing your selves unto the ground even so we must bow our selves before the most high God saith the Prophet Micah Mic. 6.6 We must worship bow down and kneel before the Lord our maker Psal 95.6 When you are to speak unto your Prince you will deliberate and advise what to say weigh your thoughts and choose your words so you should advise and deliberate what to say when you are to speak unto God and not offer unto him your rude and imperfect conception which you would not offer unto your Governour in a serious matter they who do so have a mean esteem of God for they think any thing good enough for him The very Heathen had more care of their devotions and greater respect to their Paynim Gods for the prayers which they offered unto them were composed with great art and skill And they have too high an esteem of themselves and too great a confidence in their own abilities who dare trust to their own fancy and invention before the Majesty of Heaven 2 Sam. 24.24 He who knoweth God and Himself will know his distance and keep it and neither appear before his God empty nor yet with that which cost him nothing Finally to pray ex tempore especially in publick is against the rule of prudence for he is esteem'd a wiser man who considereth and deliberates before he speak then he who speaketh without any deliberation Solomon saith The heart of the Wise teacheth his mouth Prov. 16.23 His heart teacheth his mouth because he considereth and deliberates what to say So that they who pray without any deliberation are none of Solomons wise men From all this which I have said it evidently followeth that we should studdy and deliberate our prayers especially those which we utter in publick We should fit and prepare our selves to seek the Lord like the bride who maketh her self ready Rev. 19.7 and as the wise Virgins who trimmed their lamps before they went out to meet the bridegroom Math. 25.7 our hearts should first be inditing a good matter before our tongue be the pen of a ready writer And of all premeditated prayers none are so sit for the Church Psal 45.1 as set forms composed by the governors of the Church wherein all may joyn These prayers are most according to the rule of this Text that is with the Spirit and with understanding also with the Spirit for it were strange If the Church should not have the Spirit of prayer in her compositions as well as any of her Children Yea in all reason the publick Spirit is to be trusted before the private for the promise of the Spirit is made unto the Church and especially when her pastors are assembled together And these prayers are most with understanding because most to the understanding of the People In this set forms have the advantage of all other prayers that they are best understood And the Apostle here preferreth praying with understanding before praying with the Spirit so that albeit praying ex tempore were a praying with the Spirit as is pretended but falsely yet were they nothing so convenient for the Church as set forms vvhich are better understood because the People are acquainted with them bear some part in them by their suffrages and answers and so heartily joyn in prayers for which cause it is called Common prayer So it was alwayes in the antient Church Se Just Mart. Apol. 2. Aug. op 118. then the prayers of the Church were not dispatched between the Priest and his Clark as novv in the Church of Rome nor performed by the Minister alone but all the People answered the Priest and so they all prayed and sung together This is the Juge Sacrificium the perpetuall Publick Sacrifice which never Church wanted The Church of the Jewes had their Liturgy vvhich they used Dayly and the Jews even at this day do observe it And the Christian Church from the very beginning had Liturgies and common forms of vvorship Jame the first Bishop of Jerusalem of vvhom you read in the Acts of the Apostles imployed himself so much in composing of Liturgies for the use of the Church that he was called Jacobus Liturgicus So did St. Basill St. Chrisostom St. Ambrose and others Or if you like better the exemple of reformed Churches Mr. Calvin advised all Churches to use such set forms of prayer from which the Ministers might not vary Calv. Ep. 87. ad prot Aug quod al foâ—mam precum vituum Eccl siae valde probo ut certa illa excet a qua past nibus in functione sua descedere non liceat tam ut consulatur quorundam Simplicitati imperitis quam ut certius ita conster omnium inter ses Ecclesiarum consensus postremo ut obviam eatur desultoriae quorundam levitati qui novationes quasdam affectant and he giveth good reasons for it therefore I will repeat his own words concerning a form of prayer and Ecclesiastical rites I very well like that it be a certain and constant one from which the pastors of the Church may in no wayes depart or vary as well to provide for the simplicity unskilfulness of some as also that the consent of all churches may more certainly be known lastly to meet with the unconstant levity of some Men who affect innovation And so all the reformed Churches as they had their confessions of faith so they had books of Common prayer and administration of Sacraments Even the Church of Scotland albeit their reformation was in times of rebellion brought in by popular fury and so with too much heat opposition against Popery yet they were not then so full of the spirit of Munster but that they used set formes of prayer dayly and never Minister went into a Putpit but before he uttered any words of his own he first read a prayer out of the book containing a general confession of fin T. C. reply And they who at first opposed the liturgy of the Church of England did then protest that they did not not dislike set formes of prayer but approve well of them only they would not approve of that book which came so near to the Romish missals But now we see that the Divil is of an encroaching nature that if we yield him an inch he will take a span For haveing prevailed to have that book laid aside now they will have no set formes at all not so much as the Lords prayer nor any premeditate prayer but will have ministers pour out all their prayers ex tempore And I dare say that the Devill will allow them such prayers for they will never batter his Kingdom but enlarge it For such a forme or rather no forme of worship doth occasion multitude of Schismes in the Church when every one prayeth after his own fashion and in his prayer vents his opinions which are not alwaies according to faith and Godliness there must be as St. Jerome saith Tot Schismata quot Sacerdotes The Milevitan Council above twelve hundred years ago saw this evil and provided against it And the Protestants in France at this day are aware of it For albeit they make little use of a liturgy in their daily ministration save only for Psalmes and Lessons yet in the administration of the Sacraments they bind all Ministers precizely to the words of the book so that if any Minister in France in the administration of either Sacrament should neglect the prayers of the book and conceive prayers of his own he would be deprived For they know well that there can be no unity in religion without some uniformity in worship When all particular congregations communicate in a common forme of worship then is the Church like Jerusalem Psal 122.3 that is built compact together But when every one prayeth after a severall fashion there is as great diversity of tongues as was at the building of Babel That division of tongues was a curse so it is as great blessing of God when the whole Church is unins labii hath as it were but one lip when all do praise God and magnifie him togegether as David required Psal 34.3 God of his infinite mercy grant us this blessing that we may with one mind and one mouth glorifie God as the Apostle exhorteth us Rom. 15.6 This shall be my prayer while I have any being and let all who love the worship of God and the peace of the Church say Amen