delivered in relation to private devotions which holds good in publick too prohibiting all sinister and hypocritical designs in prayer to gain the praises and acclamations of men And when thou prayest thou shalt not be as the Hypocrites are For they love to pray standing in the Synagogues and in the corners of the Streets that they may be seen of men Matth. 6.5 I shall not therefore value at all how I am recommended unto men if their approbation shall render those actions that gain it unacceptable and odious unto God He that is called to that Honourable although despised Office of a Minister in the true Church of Christ must neither fear the frowns of men nor the malice of Devils and no body can bestow greater slurs or indignities on our vocations or persons than our receiving the Sacred Character may forewarn us to expect We know it is an Employment unacceptable to the guilty to tell men of their faults redargue their errors and to put them to open rebuke and shame nay by chance sometimes to their very faces And in doing this we cannot but expect to bear some share in our Saviours sufferings Who though he was the best Preacher of the Gospel was both contemned whipt and Crucified Now the Disciple is not above his Master nor is the Servant above his Lord And 't is no more than he has forwarned us to expect if we are hated of all men for his names sake Nay were it not that the great God himself espouses our quarrels when truth remains unshaken on our side by his Providence making way for deliverence from our enemies that he that despiseth us despiseth Christ himself and he that despiseth him despiseth him also that sent him Luke 10.16 And that not only promises of temporal deliverances or at least supports under the pressures of our adversaries but an eternal reward is also granted to him that continues and perseveres unto the end Matth. 10.22 We should have been quite swallowed up by those strange children whose teeth are Spears and Arrows and their tongue a sharp Sword And we should have as long as we are permitted to live work nough cut out for us not only to tire the most active and indefatigable minds among us but even to disturb our Spirits and break our hearts For there is nothing almost in the Christian Religion but what either the wit or malice of men has render'd doubtful And the perverse wranglings of one man with another have made that a Subject to dispute upon which was at first designed to unite the whole world in the strictest bonds of Catholick charity by a compleat and uniform profession and practice of one Religion And though there is no ground either in Scripture or Antiquity to found these rude indigested long and Hypocritical prayers on Yet their Patrons that they may continue to delude the people do like men in a Shipwrack lay hold of any plank to save them And therefore notwithstanding as they manage their prayers 't is apparent blasphemy to assert it they intitle the most Holy Spirit of God to all their loose insipid and most ridiculous prayers as if he were the very inditer of them or at least a wonderful and miraculous coadjutor in supplying by an immediate impulse an extempore man with matter and expressions Yet I know not well although I am able upon a private occasion to pray in this manner by my self upon what they can ground their peculiar confidence and extraordinary expectation in this matter but either upon the Primitive examples of men inspired when the infancy of the Church more necessarily required it which being extraordinary can be no common precedent Or upon some expressions of St. Paul 1 Cor. 14. chap. I will pray by the Spirit and I will sing by the Spirit and blessing by the Spirit and the like Now whatever assistances were at first given either for a sign to confirm the Authority of the Gospel or the Commission of any that Preached it to the World Or else to enable some to instruct others or to pray with them in those more early times of Christianity they are no more to be expected now the Gospel has been so long planted than that gift of tongues which St. Paul speaks of when he saies that he will sing or pray or bless by the Spirit And that this is the plain meaning of the forementioned Chapter is very obvious to any that will peruse it And that the Apostle though himself had extraordinary assistences in these matters does not incourage extempore devotions but only rebuke disorders among those who having the miraculous gift of tongues prayed in strange languages to the people which they understood not has been already concluded upon consideration of the Chapter in this Discourse But because it is urged by Fanaticks against us in another sence than that in which we urge it against the Papists as if they would give these a deliverance by a new interpretation I will speak a little upon it again to shew that praying by the Spirit in this place cannot countenance extempore prayer Nor has it any more relation to it than Latin and Greek has to English Nay as 't is now used not so much neither The Reverend Dr. Owen in his Critical Discourse of the work of the Holy Spirit in Prayer c. has an excellent reason pag. 19. why the Holy Spirit does not formally pray Because all prayer whether Oral or Interpretative is the act of a nature inferior to that which is prayed to So that I suppose these mens prayers whatever in the mean time they say to us are not so immediately dictated by the Spirit as if he that uttered them were only the pipe through which without a Metaphor the waters or the wind flow But 't is some kind of assistance which they strive for to help their invention and expressions in prayer beyond a benign influence upon us to raise our graces and affections in our devotion Which if they understand themselves they are very loth to communicate the sence of it to others However that St. Paul cannot justifie them in this place is plain from the fourteenth Verse of the Chapter If I pray saies he in an unknown tongue my Spirit prayeth i. e. the gift of tongues which is an effect flowing from the Holy Ghost prayeth But my own apprehension of what by vertue of this extraordinary gift I utter is no argument to prove that it is advantageous unto others For saies he my understanding is unfruitful i.e. to those who hearing should have joined with me And then it follows I will pray by the Spirit and I will pray by my understanding also That is when he did pray in an unknown tongue he would by his understanding so interpret it as to render the prayer intelligible unto others So that understanding here is opposed to Spirit i.e. the speaking as those do who have not the gift of divers languages when they deliver
to have their advantage by it and have several years tried their skill but Gods Providence was too hard for them And even yet praised for ever be the great name of the eternal Jehovah though the Romanists as well as other weak yet presumptuous men have thought us marching directly towards Rome we have a Protestant King to rule and govern us such generous and faithful Counsellors who advise him and such skilful and stout Champions to encounter them and above all the God of Protestants to undermine and resist them that we may yet say The Lord is our helper we will not fear what man can do unto us Nay though an host of men should be encamped against as we will not slavishly fear evil although we are sensible that in this Cause of Religion which loves not to be planted with the point of a Sword our Adversaries have exchanged their writings for strategems left their Arguments and were almost ready to run to their weapons But whither will zeal transport a man beyond the present subject of debate when he meets with an enemy that is always betraying and ready to pierce a mans Bowels I shall therefore inforce this Argument and Inference against the Papists prayers in an unknown tongue with two Considerations that seem to me to determine the Controversie and are sufficient with reference to this particular to abate the kindness of any person at least all that are well instructed to the Roman Church and check any inclinations to the embracement of such a Communion whole constitution hinders them from understanding their prayers that ignorance may make men fit for their devotions and parting with their reason and sence too they may be drawn after the Popes Chariot with their eyes put out and at last be led into a feigned Purgatory howling and squaling as if they were all Quakers that he may when he pleases as the silver moves open the doors or keep them fast and when he turns the Key at last instead of giving them joy and liberty they may find they are entered into a real Hell from which there is no redemption at all But yet before we go thither or pray away our own understandings in such a worship in which it is impossible for those to joyn who ken not Latin in which it is delivered Let us 1. Consider whether St. Paul be not above the Pope and the word of God rather to be credited than the cunningly devised Fables of men This great Apostle and Doctor of the Gentiles 1 Cor. 14.14 acquaints the World with such language as this If I pray says he in an unknown tongue my Spirit prayeth but my undersanding is unfruitful By unknown tongue every body knows what is meant but in the latter clauses some may be ignorant and others make use of these expressions and their own vanity and unskilfulness together to lead men from Latin Service into a rude and ungovernable devotion By Spirit therefore is meant the gift of the Spirit not flowing forth in extempore expressions now but in strange languages in the times of the Apostles as appears by St. Pauls interpretation of himself For when he had exhorted men to employ one of the Spiritual gifts forementioned in this Chapter to the edification of the Church ver the 12th In the next he explains it by an unknown tongue Nay in the very particular Text quoted the praying of the Spirit is apparently the praying in an unknown tongue If I pray sayes he in an unknown tongue my Spirit prayeth but mine understanding is unfruitful That is though he understood the language himself yet it being unknown to others his being acquainted with the sense of his own prayers could not render them beneficial to those that heard them And therefore he concludes upon the whole that he would pray with the Spirit yet so that he might pray with the understanding too He would not only pray in such a language by himself which he understood that he might accompany his words with due intention and suitable affections But he would pray also that his understanding might be fruitful unto others by putting his petitions into such a language as the people might be able to understand that so they might joyn with him and be edified by it Secondly Consider that prayer not understood by those who are to joyn in it being uttered in a language which they are ignorant of loses those blessed influences and ends to which it was designed and ought to have upon the Devotionists particularly by their understandings to move their wills and obtaining their consent to raise their affections suitable to the petitions made for them that so the act of the Minister may become their own and they knowing what is delivered may rationally consent and earnestly desire the things prayed for and have their several interests in all For they are Beasts rather than men who are driven on they know not whither and say Amen to such petitions or at all adventures assert the truth of such propositions which they have no apprehension of and may with reference to their understandings be as well false as true In such a case they fix their seal either by the example or authority of another to what for ought they know obliges them to ruin and may sign their execution when they hope to receive a pardon It is impossible at man should with any reason signifie his assent to that or heartily wish for those things mentioned in a prayer when he does not understand whether they are included in it or no Unless men can think it rational to set their hands at all adventures to every paper that is brought to them when they may sign a Bond instead ofa Release or make away an estate instead of making it sure to them But I may be confident men are wary enough in this and need not unless they are foolish to a Proverb any Monitor to caution them in it though their want of skill may cause them to advise in some nice and critical difficulties And is it reasonable think ye that the Children of this world should be always wiser than the Children of light Or that any to whom the glorious Gospel is revealed should be more cautious and exact in relation to their secular welfare than they are with reference to their eternal advantages Will they beg a Serpent instead of a Fish or desire a Stone instead of Bread A little Child will hardly be so gull'd and cheated but when such an exchange is profer'd will throw it away with rage and contempt But further that which aggravates the fault of men so easily imposed upon is that where they give their assent without reason and desire what they do not understand whether it be advantagious or unprofitable to them they chuse what is no object of their choice because it is impossible for them to apprehend any goodness at all in that whose nature and accommodation to them they are totally ignorant of
upremeditated effusions of men in their prayers unto God their inventions so vary the phrases and transpose the matter that when all is the same yet they are so differently placed between antecedents and consequents that they are frequently altered till they become obscure and are so clouded either with Fogs or Dust that a considering man of parts and memory is not able to find either out when they are buried in the midst of rubbish and how should another search out that which he that hid it cannot find Sixthly If forms of prayer in publick devotions are either inconvenient or unlawful then they must be so in relation to the persons that utter them or else to those who are concerned in joyning with and consenting to them 1. If they are inconvenient or unlawful to the Minister only why should the people trouble themselves or any man startle them about it Unless men think it to be a glory to them to disturb the minds and Religion of the devout raise clouds that they may have the honour to dispel them bring scruples and pains into mens consciences that Casuistical Divinity may come the more into fashion and they like Quacks may sit gravely in their Chairs to scry waters and resolve doubts and take Fees of their wandring Patients This is plain forcing of a Trade and making men sick that they may cure the disease or rather live by the continuance of it For why should the people perplex their minds about that in which only the Minister is concerned Let every man bear his own burden and in this case relating to publick worship we are willing and chuse to bear ours For the Son shall not bear the iniquity of the Father nor the Father of the Son The righteousness of the righteous shall be upon him and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon him Ezek. 18.20 Yet certainly he who has duly considered that intention of mind which is to accompany the matter and expressions of our prayers will not charge a Minister with a fault because he cannot effect that which is impossible to mind three or four things at the same instant inventing matter and words to express it at the same time in which he must reflect upon what he has invented before he can understand it himself and raise his affections and desires in proportion to what he utters when he prayes and direct his intentions to the great God to whom he addresses Or else those that are so much for these extemporary effusions must conclude that the Minister need not pray himself whilst he is busie in inventing matter and words for others but that it is sufficient that he teaches others to be devout when he himself has no devotion at all and that his business in the congregation is to make prayers for others not for himself 2. If a form of prayer be either inconvenient or unlawful to the people then indeed all the former reasoning is ineffectual and more will be so which is yet behind But then whoever asserts this as none but a mad man will without limitation do I have this farther in this place to urge against him that there must be no publick prayer at all For all prayer is either uttered in words that are premeditated or conceived before and this on all hands will be yielded to be a form Or else it must be delivered in such language promoted by what helps soever as he that pronounces it did not think of before he is call'd to utter it which they that affect it call either praying extempore or by the spirit but whatever of this nature is uttered by a Minister in a publick congregation will howsoever be a set form to the people For both matter and words must be framed and fixed by the Ministers invention and pronounced too before they come to the peoples ears they must understand and consider them before they can rationally consent to the petitions and with earnest wishes say Amen And consequently whatever 't is to the Minister which though I have the faculty I cannot know unless I were an Enthusiast reason and antiquity being wholly excluded by a late Writer in this case it must be all one to the people whether the prayer be premeditated or extempore But the truth is they who manage this controversie on that side opposite to our Church turn their dark parts to us as the Moon does before a Change and like the little Foxes that spoil our vines whilst the grapes yet hang tender upon the branches are so hard hunted in this matter that after they have run out at length several miles from the place where they were first unkennel'd they are fain to take shelter in the Woods march upon dead or quick-set hedges and at last will have no refuge but to earth themselves when the darkness of the night hinders their being digg'd out again However if in the mean time we well watch and observe these persons we may find them out by the light of the morning when they thump and digg to make their way through And for the greater part though some are of a more quick and crafty invention if we well observe the frequent prayers of any one man pretending this gift we shall find it to be either the effect of a nimble nature quick invention with volubility of language pronounced with an endearing tone in Scripture phrases canted to the people or else an art of expressing himself by the strength of memory or frequent use most readily and sometimes though not always prudently in phrases and sentences diversified and transposed according to the various positions of the matter and to be a faculty only of amusing but not edifying the people making grateful percussions on their ears and screwing up their affections by turning round the wheels and all to be but mechanical Clock-work or a Jack to roast meat for their own bellies For how often have we heard these gifted men pretending to pray in an unpremeditated method or none at all as the fruit of a sudden and quick invention whilst they were willing it should be believed that all even their very matter and words were darted into them by the spirit of God that all might be shot back to heaven yet upon wise recollection by memory and observation we have concluded that their nimble effusions have consisted of many pieces of set forms jumbled together like Epicurus's atoms by a fortuitous concourse or at least of many preconceived sentences expressing the matter of former petitions in a new dress diversified by art varied and fixed in divers places as they present themselves to the memory or the fancy so that this is often like the changing of bells and may be managed by the same art four will make four and twenty and upon five they may ring six score I shall leave this therefore at present as a point that deserves no farther consideration among any religious men that are thinking and wise but shall
we know not what a day may bring forth God therefore who is acquainted with our frame and is able to look through future contingencies such as are so in their natural Causes but foreseen by him who is the God of nature who sees which way the balance will incline because he knows the paths of his own Providence this great God as he many times suspends his favours till we are in a capacity to receive them so like a tender Father he will not give us bread to spoil nor a Serpent to sting us And therefore sometimes when he accepts our prayers he adapts his favours to our necessities now giving us more than we ask and then cutting his answers short of our petitions because he in his infinite wisdom knows that we ask too much He wisely considers what store-house we have and our capacities of receiving what we pray for and changes the seasons and opportunities to bestow his gifts and confers them according to the good pleasure of his will and his most wise contrivance in governing the World and us as members of this great Community And therefore sometimes he gives us one thing more convenient when we most earnestly beg another now changing the means which we desire to obtain an end affording other that may be more effectual sometimes he changes the end it self and orders the means we have petitioned for in order to one design to produce what is better and much more advantageous to us yet in all these things he acts best because he does that which is most convenient for us and most suitable to his Wisdom and Providence Finally we may petition for many things which if granted to us would thwart God's general Government of the World or some particular wise design which we are yet ignorant of and therefore in such cases he accepts our prayer as an acknowledgement to himself though he does not grant the particulars of it Or Lastly we may sometimes beg such things as may prove incentives to our own or others sins and then 't is no wonder that he denies our requests because we ask amiss that we may consume it on our lusts or pleasures James 4.3 And thus I have finished my fifth Enquiry into what things men ought to pray for CHAP. VII I Proceed now to the Sixth Head propounded to be treated of in this discourse To enquire into the latitude of prayer with reference to those who are to perform and joyn in it because I find what is called the Spirit of Prayer confined by some to those only who are endowed with the Spirit of God nay so as if that spake in them And by their selecting and culling members for their religious societies or Churches so called out of the visible professors of Christianity who having been baptized were made members of Christs Church upon earth that they design to have Saints only to partake of publick Ordinances among them as well as they can and to pretermit or else exclude others I shall therefore in this Chapter briefly enquire whether prayer be an universal duty or only concerns good men or true Saints Now though such a question upon a naked proposal a man would think might be on a sudden answered and a return might be made as extemporary as some mens prayers are or the Books of those who only Hem and Spit them forth with little or no consideration yet it must admit of some debate for that the iniquity of times and the perverse wits of some men have rendered it useful and necessary too Because we find some thinking and melancholy men unless they are persons who deserve a more severe denomination even in this lower world endeavouring to make a separation necessary betwixt the Tares and the Wheat though our Saviour sayes Let both grow together until the Harvest Matth. 13.30 But however they give too much occasion to distrust the prayers of mixed Congregations which is a misfortune no way to be provided against in their own unless they were discerners oâ— hearts and could better distinguish betwixt the Hypocrite and sincere Christian than by those inward and obscure marks by which they describe Saints in the dark But however this I cannot but believe That the neglect inadvertency or wicked disposition of one man cannot hinder the acceptance of the devotion of another if there be any communion in prayer through the world that is publick in a congregated assembly no more than the vain glory of the Pharisee obstructed the Petition of the humble Publican or to come full home to the point than Judas hindered the grateful services of Christs Disciples because he was one of the twelve Nay a contrary notion and in pursuance of it a forbearance of all joint petitions till we were assured that no wicked man were among us would destroy all publick and family prayers Because we cannot have such an assurance and we can in this case at most make only probable conjectures unless those men will pretend to know the hearts of others who if we may believe themselves are ignorant of their own and quote a Text according to their own sense to confirm it That the heart of man is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked who can know it Jer. 17.9 But notwithstanding all this there are some cases in which the great God will not hear though good men intercede and pray As when the most of a community have fallen into and yet continue obstinately enough in the commission of such crying sins that a general calamity is judged by divine wisdom fit to be brought upon it for the utter ruine of the members when an irrevocable sentence is gone forth against them if further consideration does not bring them to repentance and the amendment of their lives Then though Noah Daniel and Job were in it they shall neither deliver Son nor Daughter they shall at most only deliver their own souls by their righteousness Ezek. 14.20 Yet their goodness and prayers may avail even in such a day to the rescue of themselves But to come nearer to the point in hand we find in some other cases where Gods sentence is not absolute but conditional and there yet remains some hopes of repentance that wicked mens prayers have been heard for themselves when they have resolved to amend for the future And this was the case of that great and vast City of Niniveh whose sin was so lofty and aspiring that it pierced the Clouds and ascended before the Throne of God yet when the Prophet had according to his Commission openly declared their intended ruine and by limiting it to a time proclaimed from that power above the Clouds that at the end of forty days their City and the inhabitants should be destroyed when they believed this and proclaimed a Fast and humbled themselves by giving publick testimony of their sorrow and resolution of amendment Jonah 3.6 God saw their works that their resolutions were not only sighing and snivling pretensions
are like the Astrologers at Rome always banished and yet ever here For interest and advantage quickly turn prudence into subtilty and this as soon will erect a fortress to defend it self if it does not also expel honesty out of its neighbourhood Nay this private interest of Honour and Wealth too frequently rules abundance of men in the making Laws submitting to them and executing them too even against all right and publick advantage This we find to have been formerly at Rome For though there was sufficient and notorious evidence that the Books found by Petilius in Numa's grave were certainly his Yet because they were adjudged by the Senate to be contrary to the present customs and Laws of the City and consequently might tell tales and make discoveries and lay that common which was then inclosed they were without any farther enquiry sentenced to be burnt And thus we may without uncharitableness suppose that many deal with Religion Though they are convinced or else dreading the evidence will not have patience to attend the conclusion of an argument that what our Church professes and injoins is naked truth Yet because either its embracement or defence may at present or succeeding times lay them open to some temporal troubles or inconveniences they will neither be honest to God nor Baal but trim betwixt both keeping their own Boat upright let the tide and the waves beat which way they will And by another Metaphor cut with whiskers or shave all off and either they halt betwixt two Opinions or if they profess one they will leave it when a storm ariseth and follow our blessed Lord himself only whilst the loaves last but desert him if he once wants bread In an instance hinted at a little before when Idolatry was like to fall at Ephesus and then the Images could not stand by the powerful Preaching of St. Paul the people began to entertain an opinion that they were no gods which were made with hands But at last Demetrius a City Orator and for ought I know Master of his Company assembled all his Crafts-men together and informs them that their livelihood would be in danger and their trade set at nought if such Doctrine as Christianity should be prevalent among them As soon therefore as they understood that in the concernment of their Religion their trade was involved by which they were to make out their fortunes in this World and that the Image of Diana was that which supported them they quickly gave a check to their own hesitations in matter of Religion the grandeur of Diana was presently concerned they grew full of wrath for what they had a favourable opinion of and cried out with the largest throat they could make even for the full space of two hours Great is Diana of the Ephesians Acts 19. So wonderfully prevalent is the sence of gain as if it were the only godliness for or against any Religion in the World among men who only value the subtilty of the Serpent but do not regard the innocence of the Dove And now upon the view of this can any of us secure our selves that they who are enemies to the Church of England whatever friendship there may be among themselves do not share in this thing Can we conclude that they exalt not Schism for wealth or reputation Or upon any equilibrious or probable arguments so much as hope that they adhere to a party where all profess the same faith without some respects and designs that are far different from the Christian Religion and Protestant interest If not Then amongst English men that bid defiance to the Pope and much more in those who are not so much as Christians at large 't is neither the external deportments of men their fluency of language nor any of their seeming zeal or raptures that can evidence to us that their worship is such as becomes the glory or greatness of the Deity or agreeable to the reason of mankind since gain will force men to appear godly in spight of all our teeth and though they are bit never so severely if they please they will run on still till ye do not only catch them but hold them fast But let us leave the shell and pick out the kernel If we can find any in such a Controversie as this and a Maggot is not got into the Nut Let us travel from the Porch to the Temple and view both their Sacrifice and Altar if that word be not prophane and see well whether the fire heats parallel to the blaze it makes among them Let us look into the Modes by which our Brethren-adversaries make their addresses to Almighty God and judge whether their prayers or deportment is suitable to that respect which in solemn invocations is rationally due to the Divine Majesty and that infinite Being whom Christian men pretend to adore The usual way of the Native Protestants of England who Dissent from the Liturgy and Church Established in this Nation by Law among us is to pray to God without premeditation in relation unto words and as some affirm matter too expecting in this assistances from the Spirit of God notwithstanding all their rational faculties and external helps though 't is no way promised in this sence and so they cannot ponder before-hand what is sitting to be offered to their Maker Now can it possibly be consistent with the greatness of that power which disposes and confers the Crowns and Scepters of this lower World to admit such addresses which must be indigested and therefore rude If these men themselves were to petition any Earthly Prince for either a pardon or place of advantage they would very well consider both the matter and the form that neither inconvenience or absurdity might be mixed with the one nor rudeness or too much familiarity enter into the composition of the other Nay whosoever are chosen to present it are usually persons not only of integrity but prudence too not only such as may be acceptable to the Prince but they who have a deportment suitable to Majesty that can demean themselves with such humility and lowliness accompanied with a correspondent desire not only to represent the grievance of the petitioners but their affection too signifying the testimonies of the seriousness of their minds by the external gravity and submission expressed in the gestures and actions of their bodies And can any think that the great God when we make Religious addresses to him can be well pleas'd with what we account an affront to men since he is a rational living and infinite Being 'T is true indeed we have found some in the world who anciently worshipped Mercury by railing and Hercules by throwing stones at him But surely the God whom Christians pretend to serve is neither deaf that he cannot hear nor because he is strong is he become insensible Reverence and a most awful fear are suitable ornaments for him to wear who pretends to approach the Almighty to adore him for he is
in the midst of the waters Especially over such Fish as carry mony in their mouths If they did not in plain terms endeavour to make parties in the Church that their own may at last appear to be the greatest by whatever under the pretext of Religion conveighs delight by that variety which pleases the generality of mankind Why should they not as well Preach extempore as pray so In their Sermons I am sure they were wont to use all the art and study that they could accommodating their Doctrines and expressions too that their pains might bear proportion to their Auditory and the fashion and example of those who were in greatest repute amongst them And I cannot divine what might be the cause of this different regard to prayer and Preaching unless they had more care in those speeches they directed unto men than they took about those which they presented unto God For they seem to me to have no greater promise of an assistance from Heaven in relation to the one than they have also with reference to the other Do they think that Text in the Eighth to the Romans proves effectually that the Holy Ghost assists them in their prayers because the Apostle has delivered that likewise the Spirit helpeth our infirmities because we know not what we should pray for as we ought c. If it be well weighed and considered with the Context it will only evidence our Saviours most earnest and wise Intercessions for us in Heaven by the holy Spirit which alwaies accompanies him The support of our minds under the greatest pressures we meet with in this world Or most that the Scripture being dictated by the Spirit has given us directions for the proper heads and â—â—â—â—er of our prayers and resolves still by some benign and secret influence which we are not able to describe to others to proportion our affections and elevate our minds to the importance of the concernments we pray for and the greatness of that Majesty to whom we petition And because if I were the greatest Critick in the world I should alwaies abhor the founding any necessary Doctrine upon the signification of a word in Scripture which words we know as in prophane Authors are frequently equivocal and restrain'd according to the compass of that matter in which they are Therefore I say nothing of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 nor of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 nor of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 nor of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 no nor concerning 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 neither But if men are resolved for ends that will not serve them at the day of Judgement to which they refer many things that may be ended here to make these words against their own will in contradiction to the reason and experience of all thinking men that are not either knavish or mad to express a promise of some extraordinary assistance from the Spirit now in our inventions of matter and words in prayer unto God They may as well rely if they are pleased with such waies of interpreting Scripture upon that promise of our Saviour made to the Apostles to enable them to preach and write the Doctrines of the Gospel John 16.13 Howbeit when he the Spirit of truth is come he will guide you into all truth And because there were Divine inspirations at the first which were necessary if God would deliver a Law by the mouths or writings of any selected out of the race of men Our gifted Brethren may if they please take occasion from the 10th of St. Matthew vers 19th and 20th to attempt any thing without premeditation or study and then to be sure we should be hard enough for them Since our Saviour there informs his Disciples that they need take no thought what or how the should speak because it should be given them in that hour i. e. when they might have occasion And he uses an Argument to raise and to confirm their belief of it For it is not ye that speak saies he but the Spirit of your Father which speaketh in you And yet I fancy that if our extempore men were in the same circumstances and put under those conditions which this Text supposes and were accused of something Capital before a Magistrate they would not only study all waies of clearing themselves to avoid the punishment what ever at last became of the guilt And this they would endeavour by all the means that a close consultation with their own thoughts could possibly suggest and not only with seriousness prepare an answer to any accusation of this nature But I believe too they would condescend to advise with the learned in the Law that they might if possibly avoid the Sentence of the Judge Nay in such cases whether they would fee bribe or make the greatest friends they could I leave to their own Consciences and experience that I may say nothing of making publick commotions to save themselves And as in business of this nature gifted men are inclined to think that such promises of assistance were only intended for a shorter time and not to reach this present age So though the Apostles Acts 2. Being fill'd with the Holy Ghost began to speak with divers languages as the Spirit gave them utterance they will submit their Spirits and condescend to the contrivance of heads of matter and modes of expression when they preach the Gospel though they are to speak in no other than their Mother Tongue Now why should this great care be had in their Sermons to the people when they usually have so slender a regard to what they utter in their prayers to God if there were no distinctions of times and seasons in relation to the promises and assistances of Gods Spirit For surely Preaching as well as praying is an ordinance to continue 'till the Elect are gathered and that will not be till the end of the world Unless they will affirm and give us too apparent an Argument to believe that the Spirit has so ordered matters that less pains and diligence are to be used when we address to God than when we speak only to the people And if any are so bold to talk thus I hate to refute such nonsence and blasphemy both together For it plainly appears that such men must be liable to the same rebuke which the chief Rulers of the Jews received from our Saviour recorded in the Gospel of St. John Chap. 12.43 Who though they believed on him did not confess him because they loved the praise of men more than the praise of God And let their ears be never so much circumcised they render themselves opposite to the true circumcision whose praise is not of men but of God Rom. 2.29 And how far such contrivances may comport with sincerity and be distant from that Hypocrisie which has so many woes attending it I shall leave to those who are concerned to adjust and content my self with that direction which the great Authour of our most excellent Religion has
the conceptions of their minds to an utterance of our petitions in an unknown tongue And it concludes indeed against the Publick Service of the Papists in Latin and justifies our own in English As I have already shewed But it can neither strengthen the Enthusiast nor detract from the worth or reputation of a well composed Liturgy And that this is the true meaning of this Scripture and the real opposition which is here made of Spirit to understanding and the difference betwixt them appears plainly from the naked words of the nineteenth Verse without any Paraphrase upon them For saies the Apostle I had rather speak five words with mine understanding that by my voice I may teach others also than ten thousand words in an unknown tongue And though St. Chrysostom's interpretation of the whole does not in every part agree with this Yet he expounds Spirit by the gift of tongues But if men will still evidence their vanity by defending their extravagancies by Texts of Scripture which have been won from them as often as they have trump'd them up to the world and urge that in the twelfth of Zechariah Where God promises to pour upon the house of David and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem the Spirit of Grace and of Supplications c. They will gain but little countenance from hence for their irrational and loose way of worship Though as a neat Commentator of their own descants upon it it should be poured out as by whole Pailfuls Trapp in loc For nothing can be concluded from this Text but that the time should come in which God would by his benign operations confer so much favour to the Jews that they who were hardned through their own infidelity to the affronting and Crucifying the blessed Jesus should so relent for their former wickedness that they would pray to God and petition for their pardon when they came to be convinced that the very person whom they put so death under the notion of an Impostor was indeed the promised Messiah And so it no more concludes that the Holy Ghost is promised under the Gospel to dictate matter and expressions to all those who devoutly pray than it proves all Saints under this dispensation to be perfect Jews that crucified their Saviour Nor can all the Hebrew and Greek and Latin in the world make either out from this Text. Nay such Doctrine can no more be founded on this Prophecy of Zechariah than that the Holy Ghost should also dictate matter and words in Preaching too and render all Sanctified mens Sermons as much the word of God as the Scriptures can be infer'd from that Promise in the second of Joel where God saies I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh and your Sons and your Daughters shall prophesie Since this was fulfilled on that eminent day of Pentecost when the Holy Ghost visibly descended on the Apostles to enable them to speak divers languages and to work Miracles c. for the propagation and confirmation of the Gospel and accordingly 't is limited by St. Peter Acts 2.16 If men will still trifle with the Scriptures let them allow also women to be Preachers as well as men Because in the promise it is said that Daughters as well as Sons shall Prophesie 'T will only as 't is usual with some men prefer the Old Testament to the New and set a Prophet and an Apostle together by the ears that we may judge the advantage to which we please as he gratifies either our humour or our interest But suppose our extempore men should flie from Scripture to the succeeding Writers among the Christians as I know not but they may when they find any thing that makes for them and tell us that all this worship which we declaim against is justifiable by the practice of the Primitive Christians who living near the times of our Saviour and his Apostles must needs understand their Doctrine and their practice better than we who live in an Age so far off and quote some passages from the Ancient Fathers to justifie their extravagant devotions now I only reply 1. We grant that in the first times of Miraculous operations before the Christian Church was well setled in the World the Spirit did as well dictate prayer to some for the help of others as it inspired some to deliver the Christian Doctrines and faith that they might be derived downward to posterity But all this ceased afterwards when the reasons of it ceased when the Canon of the new Law was compleated and Knowledge and Parts became the fruits of liberal education and the Spirts co-operation with human industry 2. That the Fathers give no countenance to this extempore wild way of prayer And the later Patrons of this conceived method when they urge any expressions from them are fain to squeeze a few particular passages hard either by a false rehearsal Or else by Criticising and large interpretations they draw their words off from the sence which the subject matter and coherence of the place does willingly afford them 3. That this way of arguing in this affair is disclaimed by a late Nonconformist writer who is eminent both in venting and darkning too these extempore prayers And almost as ancient as any now living in defending them Nay and he has reason too when the contrary opinion as he saies becomes opposite to his own experience But to give him his due he admits Scripture in this Controversie And would have men to believe that all the commands for prayer in the Sacred writings are so many laws to injoin their own extempore way and method Yet though he adventures at some promises I cannot find that he meddles with the commands so as to appropriate any one to extempore prayer Though he is very good at Criticism and Inference But natural Enthusiasm when riveted by custom skulks so within a man that though possess'd with it he does not know it And 't is such another thing as what the vulgar call Arminianism which a man may sometimes be charg'd with when he yet pleads not guilty As I have heard of another great Writer whose Aphorisms when Dr. Hammond had perused presently replied This man is an Arminian but he does not know it 4. If any will defend these conceived publick prayers from Antiquity I wish they would also put other matters in Controversie betwixt them and the Church of England upon the same trial and permit the Government of the Church of Christ to be also determined this way Yet Lastly these things are here set down not because we have any cause of fear from what can fairly be urged for extempore prayer out of any Ancient Author of undoubted Credit the quotations having frequently been answered But more especially because they are just now explain'd in the Second Part of certain Cases of Conscience resolded concerning the lawfulness of joining with forms of Prayer in publick worship The view of which since the composure of this small Discourse
part of those who being otherwise minded have separated from it And it may give some rebuke to the bold confidence of such men as are not so hardned that they think there is no need of repentance or that the shame which attends it will be worse to them than the want of the thing it self and check the rude presumption of those who to exalt themselves assume too large a familiarity with their Maker And now I shall trouble the Reader with very little more being conscious to my self how much I have already tired any that has had patience to read this Discourse quite through Yet because extravagant and very lofty men pretend to inspiration in such matters as these as if the holy Spirit dictated matter and words to all Saints when they thus pray extempore If it be true I acknowledge my self to have blasphemed in this Discourse But if it be false as I verily believe it is then they themselves have blasphemed the Holy Spirit of God And to make a judgement in this case I shall only intreat treat the impartial Reader who I suppose is come thus far with me to our journeys end 1. to consider if what I have said be argumentative to convince him then the blasphemy remains in the presumption of our Adversaries on their own side 2. If their prayers were thus inspired they would be equally Canonical with the Scriptures For what made the Scriptures a Rule of life but because they were given by inspiration from God 2 Tim. 3.16 And Saint Peter informs us that holy men of God spake in old time as they were moved by the Holy Ghost 2 Pet. 1.21 And though men have been at sundry times and in divers manners spoken unto in the Old and New Testament yet it was God who delivered his messages unto men Heb. 1.1 And because he inspired the Writers of the Old Testament and the New to a delivery of what their words and writings have presented to the world therefore we receive them as the Oracles of God and endeavour to manage our lives by them God Almighty has no where declared what Books are Scripture and what not But this we learn by such arguments as convince us that the men that wrote them were inspired by the Holy Ghost Now could these mens prayers of which we now discourse be proved to be dictated by the Holy Ghost they would be equally valid with the Scriptures For as in the proof of the truth of the holy Scriptures if the Historical part be proved to be true the Doctrines that are included in the History will by the same evidence appear true also So if we allow the confessions petititions and thanksgivings of these persons to be inspired the propositions on which they are founded and all the Doctrines insinuated in them will be admitted as an effect of the inspiration also and then what inspired Controversies should we have Nay there would not only be additions to the Sacred Canon which St. John is quoted by themselves to have prohibited And Doctrines also and prayers too that have no foundation in that Sacred Writ which has been derived as a compleat rule for sundry Ages But we must receive such large Appendixes that they would not only surmount all Popish traditions though they should superadd those of the Jews But it might be said in the words of the Evangelist without any or but a little Hyperbole That if they were written the world it self could not contain the Books because the prayers of these are so various and long And beside this it would level the Prophets our Saviours and his Apostles prayers to the rude and indigested and extravagant conceptions which our natural Enthusiasts utter in those which all men call extempore prayers 3. If these men had that extraordinary assistance from the Spirit of God or such an inspiration to which so bold a pretence is made Then the Spirit of God must be rendered inconsistent with it self Since it would frame tedious and long prayers contrary to that plain fulness and convenient brevity which we find in those that are recorded in Sacred Writ as delivered by the Prophets or Apostles or even our Saviour himself And then the examples mentioned in the Book of God will seem to be changed by extraordinary motions from his own Spirit Lastly Consider that notwithstanding all our extempore mens pretensions their prayers cannot be the product of inspiration dictating to the speaker matter and words Because this sudden deceiving Knack is plainly discoverable by those that know and can use it also as well as themselves to be the effect of quickness of invention in one who remembers Scripture Phrases who has a voluble and ready tongue and 't is gained only by frequent use together with little arts in the composure At several times 't is done by changing the places of expressions or altering the method so that it cannot easily be observed by the vulgar And all is but like the exercise of a Military Company of men whole front or reer ranks or files are quickly altered by one or few words of Command And this great gift as 't is called by some advances or grows weak according to the increase or decay of natural abilities the abatement of knowledge or the sprightlyness and activity of mens parts the strength of memory or the infirmity of it the volubility of speech or the hesitations and stops in it and the practice or disuse of this extempore way c. To which we may add boldness and bashfulness fear and a good assurance and the like Hence a Right Reverend Prelate not long since deceased when before he arrived at this honour though he was alwaies a very great man he was pleased to write concerning this gift of prayer was willing to subject it to the rules of Art that so the Holy Spirit of God in all its infusions into good men might be supposed only to spiritualize their judgments and affections that they might be both sanctified and raised which may as well be in forms of devotion as in conceived and extempore prayers And now I have done with all that I intend at present to write on this Subject But if any Reader shall find an objection which is neither in this Discourse obviated in the state nor already answered in particular instances I must then refer him to several Cases of Conscience published by sundry Ministers of London very lately exhibited to the World and more yet that are to come forth and when they receive a full answer I may perhaps be convinced by it Although the most that I have yet seen seem to me to have prickles in them that for their Brethren as they call them to attempt a reply will render them like things gnawing thistles Yet men may adventure at what they please and I 'll assure them it shall be all one to me whether Don Quixot encounters a flock of Sheep or a Wind-mill The Conclusion THE Learned Vossius