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A61499 Several short, but seasonable discourses touching common and private prayer relating to the publick offices of the church / by a divine of the Church of England. Steward, Richard, 1593?-1651. 1684 (1684) Wing S5525; ESTC R7767 35,778 130

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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 mis●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.