of Bidding Prayer And when King Iames of blessed memory turn'd those Injunctions into Canons his Law runs Canon 55. That Ministers should move the People to joyn with him in Prayer viz. in this Form of Bidding Prayer Ye shall pray for Christs Catholick Church c. concluding always with the Lords Prayer Now let any indifferent man judge Are Exhortations proper Forms of Prayer Nay let a discerning man consider it well and it will appear that things there prudently spoken by way of Exhortation and Narration would prove very absurd in Prayer How fond would it appear to tell the great GOD of Heaven of the Kings most Excellent Majesty our Sovereign Lord Charles by the Grace of God King of England c. or as some do oft tell GOD of such a Lord Earl of such a Place and Baron of another and of his Majesties Honourable Privy Councel and his very good Lord c. And yet when we do but exhort them to joyn their Prayers such Clauses may not be unfit I can scarce think of any other way to defend them and yet t is true that this Form is there viz. Can. 55. call'd Prayer before Sermon and so it is because we then say together with the Preacher the Lords Prayer to those very purposes he exhorts And they well know who know Divinity that all kinds of Prayer are reducible to that holy Form but it follows not that the Preacher's Exhortation is a Prayer for that he then speaks not at all to God himself but to the People Indeed upon an occasion extraordinary it is a Prayer of no ordinary composition and therefore call'd the Form of Bidding Prayer both by a reform'd King and a very glorious Queen and yet de facto misus'd by an itching Puritanical party at first no doubt by Cunning and Design and afterwards as I verily think for the most part by a mistake of that bad end to which it drove or by inadvertency of the Law But it is most apparent that such forbidden Prayers are an especial means to eat out the whole English Liturgy A DISCOURSE Of the Difference betwixt Long Prayers prohibited and Continuance in Prayers commanded When thou prayest thou shalt not be as the Hypocrites c. Matth. 6. 5. OXFORD Printed by L. Lichfield Printer to the University for Richard Sherlock Bookseller In the Year 1684 A Discourse of the Difference betwixt Long Prayers prohibited and coutinuance in Prayers commanded THey who are true members of Christ's Church below are conform to the glorious Saints in Heaven above they do the will of God on Earth as t is in Heaven and that 's undoubtedly the way to Heaven We cannot possibly lose our way thither whilst we follow their steps who are thither gone before us Those Triumphant Saints in Heaven rest not day nor night saying Holy Holy Holy Lord God Almighty Whereunto conforms the man after Gods own heart saying O Lord God of my salvation I have cryed day and night before thee Our Lord commends it as a duty incumbent that men ought always to pray and by his Apostle commands it positively Pray without ceasing Giving thanks always Praying alway with all Prayer and Supplication But these Examples and Commands are not so to be understood as if we should do nothing else but pray which was an old Heresy of the Messalians and Euchites long since condemned by the Church of Christ as being a thing impossible to pray without ceasing in the bare literal sense because this corruptible body presseth down the soul and corporal necessities do call for supply Neither yet that we should make long Prayers which is the new error and great mistake of these times the which though generally the most used and best liked as being set off with the paint of a seeming zele and pretence of the Spirit yet the unlawfulness of such long Prayers will appear if we will without prejudice and partiality consider that 1. They are forbidden by our Lord saying When ye pray use not vain repetitions Matth. 6. 7. in which words our Lord means not the same prayers repeated as is falsly objected against the Prayers of the Church for thus our Lord prayed himself Matth. 26. 39. 44. where his Prayer was short and three times repeated And therefore undoubtedly by vain repetitions in praying is understood multitude of Words and variety of expressions to the same purpose or rather to no purpose since our Desires both may and ought to be expressed in few words and pertinent according to the pattern our Lord hath given us And that t is the meaning of our Lord when he saith After this manner pray ye that our Prayers should be generally formed to the length of his Prayer prescribed will appear 1. From the Context if seriously weighed and rightly understood wherein is manifest that the manner of praying by such a short Form is commanded in opposition to the Heathenish use of much speaking in Prayer 2. From the Parallel-Text in the Margin Eccles. 5. 2 Be not rash with thy Mouth and let not thy Heart be hasty to utter any thing before God for God is in Heaven and thou upon Earth and therefore let thy words be few 3. From the Prayers of Christ's Church which are in all Liturgies of the Christian World for the most part of the same length and surely the general Practice of the Church is the best Interpreter of the Scripture 4. Such are generally also all the Prayers of the Holy Spirit of God which stand upon Record in Holy Writ viz. the Book of Psalms with many more We meet with none that are of such a continued length as are in use amongst us but they are all divided by distinct Verses into so many several shorter Prayers Long Prayers are forbidden by our Lord because such is the custom of the Heathen as the Heathen do Matth. 6. 7. who mind more the Oratory and Language Tone and Pronuntiation than the Humility and Devotion of the Soul in prayer and t is much misbecoming Christians to worship the true God as the Heathen do their false and feigned Deities And Because they imply a false notion of the Majesty of Heaven and a misbelief of his Divine perfections as if he were asleep and must be awakened or did not understand our Wants and Desires or being otherwise imployed he could not attend our Petitions except in multitude of Words exprest and loud bawling for audience So prayed the Priests of Baal 1 Kings 18. 27. and so saith our Lord of all Heathen people that they think they shall be heard for their much speaking which is directly contrary to the true faith of a Christian who believeth and acknowledgeth the Omniscience and Omnipresence of God as it follows in the Eighth verse Your Heavenly Father knoweth what things you stand in need of before you ask which Divine Truth is implicately denied by loud and long Prayers Long prayers are not only
the foolish Prophets follow their own spirit Ezek 13. 3. which the mistake and misâ—term the Spirit of God such as worship not this one Lord as we are all commanded with one mouth and with one mind Rom 15. 6. Such as hold not the Articles of this one faith with one joynt unanimous consent of truth Unto the unity of which faith till we all come we cannot be perfect men in Christ Iesus but are like children tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine Eph. 4. 13 14. Such are all false Prophets treacherous Shepherds or in the Language of Saint Paul 2 Corin. 11. 13 14. Such are all false Apostles deceitful workers transforming themselves into the Apostles of Christ and no marvel for Satan himself is transformed into an Angel of Light I may call them according to the metaphor of the text The Bell weathers of the Flock the Ringleaders of those numerous Sects and daily increasing divisions amongst us And although each sect and division must necessarily be false and erroneous because there is but one Truth and one true way of Divine worship which is ever constant to it self yet hath each division it numerous followers of the divided Flock as silly sheep when a gap is opened follow one another to the breach to stray from their Pasture So flock the people if not restrained into the ways of division and error if any Sect-master but open a gap and lead them the by ways of straying from the Sheepfold of Christ which is his Church For such alas is the sad condition of mans corrupted and depraved mind as naturally to be more affected with error then with the Truth more prone to believe lies and more zealous in the maintenance of falshood then to believe and maintain the Truth 'T was ever so When the Prophets prophesie falsly the people love to have it so Jer. 5. ult but a sad question follows What will ye do in the end thereof When the Prophets prophesie Lies or which is the same do make and foment divisions and the people withal are affected with their lying prophesies and side with them in their respective divisions 't is easie then to prophesie and foretell the end thereof to be ruine and confusion If a kingdom be divided against it self that kingdom cannot stand and if a house be divided against it self that house cannot stand Mat. 3. 24 25. Not the house of God not the family of Christ in what Kingdom and Nation soever established All the Kingdoms and Nations in Christendom ancient and modern from the first to these last and worst of times have felt by sad experience the bitter effects of divisions and errors in Religion and none more than our own so lately bleeding even to the last gasp of death and almost buryed in her own confusions which took beginning from the prophesying of Lies and overspreading of mistakes and errors in Religion sowing the Seeds of Schism Faction and Sedition in separate and divided meetings or Conventicles in private joyned with a sacrilegious vow breaking performance of holy duties in Publick All which now are as much if not more practised then ever some of whose Factors and Followers do really intend all do certainly tend to involve this Church and Kingdom into the sad condition of intestine war blood and Confusion from whence by the great mercy of God we so lately escaped And now to you the Reverend persons who are come to visit us in our distempers and infirmities to you it bebelongs as much as in you lies to give stop to our overflowing divisions To restrain our licentious exorbitancies both in doctrine and practice in Praying and Preaching and this whether in the house of God or in the houses of men Et fiat justitia ruat coelum FINIS a Concil Leodic cel Anno 320. Can. 15. 17. ult Concil Milevit 2d. An. 416. Can. 12. Concil Epaunens celeb An. 509. Concil Gerund celeb An. 516. C. 1. Concil Toles quart Can. 2. Concil Venet. celeb An. 452. Can. 15. Concil Bracor 1. celeb An. 562. 19. 20. 22. Concil Vasen celeb 442. Can. 5 6 7. Orationis sublimitas ex parte orantis non ex sublimitate vel subtilitate verborum sed humilitate devotionis affectu ejus qui orat pensanda est Jac. Alvar. de inquis pac Versat nos praecipitat traditus per manus error alienisque perimus exemplis sanabimur si modo separemur à caetu Seneca de vita beata * Iac. Alba. de inquis pac lib. 2. par 3. cap. 3. Sanct. Soph. Tract 3. serm 2. c. 5. * Consolations sensibiles quumvis non sunt despiciendae non sunt tamen supra modum aestimandae quia nec verae virtutes nec solidarum virtutum effectus nec necessaria prefectûs instrumenta sine quibus plurimi ad magnam virtutem ac mentis puritatem ascendunt Jac. Alv. ibid a Exod. 25. 40. Acts 7. 44. Heb. 6. 11. b Matth. 6. 11. c Is. 6. 3. Rev. 4. 8. d Ps. 88. 1. a Luk. 18. 1. b 1 Thes. 5. 13. c Ephes. 5. 20. d Ephes. 6. 18. e S. Aug. l. de haer Theod. Eccl. hist. l. 4. c. 10. a Ephes. 5. 6. b Gal. 6. 8. Mark 12. 35.
transgression of the Common Law of the Land which in the Acts of Parliament for Uniformity in Common-prayer both old and new enjoyns peremptorily under severe penalties That no man shall use any prayers openly or in publick but such as are set forth in the said book so that both in this and in the former respects t is an act of Disobedience to the higher Powers and breach of the fifth Commandment I might adde in the last place the Non-conformity of this practice with all other Protestant Communicants beyond the Seas their Ministers being neither fond of it themselves nor permitted such a liberty by their Governors Object But to solve all these particulars t is said A private prayer before Sermon is allowed nay enjoyned by the 55th Canon of the Church which is called indeed a Form of Prayer but therein the Minister is not bound up to the use of the same words but may pray to that effect Answ. First But surely there is no man that understandeth sense and is not blinded with prejudice will say That the form prescribed in the Canons is a Form of prayer but an Exhortation only to move the people to joyn in prayer for Christ's Holy Catholick Church for the King's Majesty for and t is most properly called a bidding of Prayer And 't was Mr. Cartwright that Ring-leader of the Puritan Faction in the time of Q. Elizabeth who first turned this Bidding prayer into a long prayer of his own head and 't was the very Engine whereby he and his followers undermined the Common Prayers of the Church Secondly Because the observance of this Canon was obnoxious to the censure and exceptions of many who desired an absolute Prayer in stead of that bidding Form it was proposed at the Convocation held An. 1640. that it might be so ordered and accordingly there was a short Prayer drawn up comprising all the heads of the Canon the which notwithstanding the confidence some had of its universal reception was rejected by the most Reverend Archbishop who judged it neither safe nor fittng to alter that Canon which was founded on the Injunctions of Queen Elizabeth and King Edward the Sixth at the first Reformation which sufficiently evinceth the said Canon to be no Prayer nor yet lawfully to be altered and used Prayer wise Thirdly T is a presumptuous usurpation and affront upon the Church of Christ for any man to thrust himself upon such a Ministerial Office as he is not by the Authority of the Church intrusted withall and whosoever acts the Presbyterian in this particular becomes Independant the one having no more just Authority derived from the Church that ordained him to use such a private Prayer of his own in publick than the other hath either to preach or pray in publick being not admitted into holy Orders nor lawfully called thereunto Fourthly T is an Innovation in Religion a new up start practice brought into the Church not above 70 years ago and may therefore be reckoned inter profanas vocum novitates which the Apostle admonished to avoid even all profane and vain bablings 1 Tim. 6. 20. canting language new words and new ways such as are contrary to those old paths and those good ways which the Lord commands us to enquire after and to walk therein Jer. 16. 16. And such New ways are fitly called profane quasi procul à fano saith the Commentator Lyra in loc because far from the Temple or different from the words and ways of Christ's Church and contrary to the Apostles Depositum tene in the following words hold fast that which is committed to thee 1 Tim. 6. i. e. saith the Father quod tibi creditum non quod à te inventum what the Church whereby thou art admitted to the Ministerial Function hath committed to thy trust and commanded thee to observe hold fast that keep close to that not following thine own fancy and invention to bring in what is New which ever undermines the Old and true way of Divine worship Fifthly If a Call or command from God be herein pretended though not allowed by the Church yet in this particular they are at a loss except they pretend immediate Revelation with the Enthusiasts for there is neither command nor example in holy Writ to justifie this Private prayer in Publick We have many Sermons of the Apostles upon record but no Prayer before any of them so that this is an act of usurpation upon the Publick Divine Worship a presumption to do that which God hath no where commanded nor the Church of Christ allowed Sixthly Liberty being permitted for any person of what perswasion soever to vent his private conceptions by way of Prayer in publick opens a gap to Heresy and Schism in the Church to Sedition and Rebellion in the Kingdom For their private errors and designs being inserted in their prayers do insinuate into the Affections and more mightily inflame the People than by any other way of perswasion whatsoever Old Truths being undermined by New ways of Worship and vain bablings the constant Parents of errors in the Faith 1 Tim. 6. 20 21. Seventhly Thus Separations and Divisions both amongst Ministers and People are bred and nourished for whilst one Minister or gifted man as such are called prays thus and thus and and another in a way and with words divers from him one sort and sect of men likes this mans way method and language tone and gesture another sort is taken more with anothers way Hence One saith I am of Paul and another I am of Apollo and another I of Cephas 1 Cor. 1. 12. which is the life and being of Schism the remedy whereof is to obey that most pathetical exhortation Now I beseech you Brethren by the name of our Lord Iesus Christ that ye all speak the same thing That there be no divisions among you 1 Cor. 1. 10. To speak the same thing and to use the same words in the publick worship of God or as the same Apostle to glorifie God with one mind and with one mouth is the way to avoid divisions and to take off the people from their partiality and fondness in prefetring one Minister before another merely for their less or more eminencies in this unwarrantable way of praying Eighthly By this Private prayer the Publick prayers of the Church are implied to be imperfect and deficient are slighted nay contemned and undermined For they with whom this way is in repute generally slight and slubber over the Common prayer carelesly irreverently and indevoutly but to their own conceived prayers give all the advantages of seeming zeal both in their tone and language elevation of eyes hands and no marvel then that the one be so much applauded by the vulgar and the other slighted especially when they are perswaded by these Enthusiasts that Common-prayer and all the Ceremonies in that celebration are taken out of the Mass-book that they are but a dead letter and the invention of man whereas the private
Priests is commanded under a severe penalty Deut. 17. 8. If there arise a matter too hard for thee in Iudgment thou shalt arise and come unto the Priests the Levites and that man that will do presumptuously and will not hearken unto the Priest that standeth to Minister even that man shall dye And under the Gospel also the same command is given Heb. 13. 17. O hey them that have the Rule over you and submit your selves for they watch for your Souls But notwithstanding these and many more commands in the sacred sheets of either Testament yet is this Christian duty slighted and generally omitted and especially by those who pretend most to the sole Authority of the holy Scriptures without any Relation to the doctrine and Authority of the Church in the Interpretation thereof There being many amongst us in every Flock who presume to direct their Shepherds guide their Guides and teach their Teachers who if they teach not preach not pray not as they would have them and consonant to their humors and opinions they will censure their doctrines contemn their directions revile their persons scandalize their profession and even snatch the holy Oracles out of their mouths and separate themselves into Conventicles where they may heap to themselves Teachers after their lusts having itching ears and they turn away their ears from the truth and are turned unto fables believing and delighting in lies and vain empty prophesyings which profit not as was foretold of such 2 Tim. 4. 3 4. And having mentioned Conventicles I cannot but add a word of the danger of them not so much in order to the disturbance of the peace of the Nation leaving that to the Secular Magistrate but in order to the seduction of unwary and unstable souls into falshood and errors in Religion Verily verily I say unto you he that entereth not in by the door into the sheepfold but climbeth up some other way the same is a thief and a robber Joh. 10 1. 'T is the practice of subtile thieves when they seize on the honest Traveller to drag him out of the high road-way into hedges and by-places the more securely and without interruption to robb and spoil him so the spiritual thieves false Prophets ringleaders of faction and sedition do more easily seduce and robb poor silly men and women of the inestimable treasures of truth and obedience by drawing them from the open and Publick Assemblies of Gods people in his houses of prayer into By-places and lone honses where they may more securely breath forth the spiritual Infections sow the seeds of Schism and Sedition and whisper their irreligious Treasons under the mask of Religion In such places they may to their advantage vent and put off their counterfeit ware their false glosses and misinterpretations of holy Writ and make their Apocryphal Comments upon Canonical Scripture making the Holy Word of God to speak not what the Spirit of God intends therein but what their factious spirits and wild fancies would have it That there should be such false Prophets in desart places and private houses our Lord hath foretold commanding all his disciples not to believe or follow them Mat. 24. 26. Wherefore if they should say unto you he is in the desart go not forth behold he is in the secret chamber believe it not St. Augustine observes of the man that fell among thieves and was robbed and wounded Luc. 10. 30. Si non descendisset If he had not been going down from Ierusalem the place of Gods Temple to Iericho a prophane and common place he had escaped that sad disaster To teach all people to beware how they leave the place which God hath chosen to put his name there the Temple and house of God to convene in any common or prophane By places under pretence of Religion and the performance of holy duties in such places 'T was otherwise with the man after Gods own heart Psa. 5. 7. As for me I will come into thine house even upon the multitude of thy mercies and in thy fear will I worship towards thy holy Temple And with him resolves the whole body of Gods people Psal 132. 7. We will go into his tabernacle and fall low on our knees before his footstool And not only this under the Law but under the Gospel Mark 11. 17. My house not the houses of men shall be called the house of Prayer of all Nations Not of the Jews as under the Law but of the Gentiles also under the Gospel and 't is there especially in Gods own house that he has promised to meet his people to be in the midst of them to hear their prayers and bless them To teach them his waies by his faithful and true Pastors and there in a word to dispence all the blessed means of grace and salvation to them Deuteron 12. 5 6. 11 12 13 14. 1 Kin. 8. 29 30. Mat. 18. 20. Luc. 19. 46. 1 Cor. 11. 20. 7. But the grand excuse of the wandring sheep and the cry of many Orthodox also is The division of the Shepheards who being divided amongst themselves do lead their flocks into several divided wayes of divine worship And the generality of the flock being not wise enough to know what way to take or whom most securely to follow they hereupon heap to themselves Teachers after their own Lusts and with the Schismatical Corinthians 1 ep 1 cap. 12. vers Every one saith I am of Paul I am of Apollos and I of Cephas and I of Christ one man or Sect of men liking this mans way of preaching and praying another anothers way and others none at all but independently rely upon the immediate teaching of Christ by his Spirit And thus Sects and Divisions are multiplied This complaint is too true and such sad effects thereof too evident and if not stopt will prove bitterness in the end But would you know who be these divided Pastors or Preachers or Sect-masters rather the corrupt springs from whom all our polluted streams of divisions flow They are such in a word as first divide from the Church of Christ in general wherein they all agree and then divide amongst themselves into particular Sects and Factions wherein they all differ There is but one body and one spirit Eph. 4. 4. one mystical body of Christ which is his Church and one spirit of truth quickning this is our body and its members and them onely And as it follows One Lord one faith one baptisme one God and father of all who is above all through all and in you all vers 5 6. In you all that are members of this one body and quickned with this one spirit and endeavour to keep the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace which is the duty enforced from the premisses vers 3. Contrariwise then such that divide from this one body the Church into several Sects and Factions and which necessarily follows such are not quickned with this one spirit but each with