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
whereof runs thus That he will use the Service Book prescribed in Publick prayer and no other Secondly Because the use of such Prayers is directly against an Act of Parliament viz that for the Uniformity of Common Prayers which enjoyns peremptorily under sharp punishments that no man shall use any other open Prayers than are mentioned and set forth in the said Book Thirdly No man is to presume to exercise any Office in the Church except he be called to it as it was in Aaron Seeing therefore both the Church and State have expresly enjoyn'd us to use no Publick prayers but the Liturgy except his Majesty give leave upon extraordinary Occasion for the drawing up of Forms which leave hath ground de Iure communi both Ecclesiastical and Civil it followeth that neither Church nor State have given power to any to vent themselves in such open Prayers in the Church because they expresly forbid it To presume then to use such Prayers contains in it a complication of several Sins 1. The Sin of Falshood or the breach of solemn Promise confirm'd by subscription of the Church 2. T is an act of Disobedience to the Higher Powers and so it is an express sin against the Fifth Commandement 3. T is an act of Injury aed Usurpation offered to the Church in presuming to thrust themselves into a sacred Office which such men are not to be intrusted with nor thought fit at all to execute for many may be able to discourse unto men since if they chance there to fail in point of truth or congruity the matter is of less consequence but the Church will but trust but few that shall lead Men when they speak to God because there a Falshood may prove an abomination in Speech an Incongruity may soon amount to a Blasphemy I would glanly demand of any prudent person whether he conceive that when the Church of England was in her greatest glory she had ever in it 9500 Persons answerable to the 9500 Parishes that were able to lead the people in prayer Sad experience tells us the contrary and informs us loudly enough of the Soloecisms and Blasphemies and the same experience tells us that their Directory helps them not at this dead lift nay it may often prove the greatest impediment since were some weak men allowed as well their Matter as Words they might perhaps come off with some tolerable approbation but being forced to confine themselves to matter which either they well understand not or are not so well us'd to speak of their Prayers are oftentimes vain and ridiculous or which is worse erroneous and blasphemous The licentiousness of Devotion that each private Priest durst adventure to lead others in Publick prayer breeding great disturbance in the Primitive Church brought the Fathers to decree thus in the second Council of Milevis where St. Austin sate as appears by the Subscription That no Publick Prayers should be offered up to God that had not been approv'd of in a Council or least agreed upon by the more discreet sort of men Ne fortè aliquid contra fidem vel per ignorantiam vel per minus studium fit compositum Lest either through ignorance or want of good pains the publick Faith might receive hurt by such Prayers Now besides other hurts which the Church of England hath received by this unlawful course all know that she hath received one remarkable mischief in the neglect and scorn of her Liturgy For when Cartwright the Puritan Incendiary saw he wanted Power either to extirpate or to alter our established Book of Common Prayer he was the first durst boldly use this forbidden Knell of Devotion and those that followed him improved it to so great an height by posting over our Liturgy with so much carelesness and scorn and by giving all the Advantages to those Forms of their own both of the Voice and of the Eyes and of the Hand that the People began e're long to think that the reading of the Liturgy was but an useless task impos'd by the Church on the Priests but that they compleatly served God if they came when the Psalms were singing because besides that they served God and had the benefit of a Sermon they heard a long Prayer also set out with all the Devotion and all the advantage that it could possibly receive from the Art or from the natural good parts of the person who compos'd it So that he who will needs continue the use of these forbidden prayers in the Pulpit takes the readiest course as much as in him lies for the rooting out the publick Liturgy I suppose that these men do not at all like the course which the Independants now use in Prayer who permit this extemporary or voluntary way not only to the Priests but to the Soldiers and to the Mechanicks and I imagine a main cause of their mistakes to be because such an Office is intruded on by those men who have not just authority to perform it But then if they would consider things well they would easily find that this use of forbidden Prayer hath metamorphos'd them into Independants since they have no more authority to compose such Forms from that Apostolical Church that ordained them than either that person hath who is now imployed to make Shoes or that other Ecclesiastick whose Formalities are a Belt and a Buff Jerkin It may be said perhaps that many Churchmen both of great knowledge and great place have themselves us'd these forms of Prayer and upon that ground why may not they Truly if to argue thus were concluding it might soon free us not only from the ties of many English laws but from the obligation of the Decalogue it self which without all doubt is broken often enough not only by those of the common sort but by men of great Place and Knowledge But we must distinguish between Consuetudo and Corruptela and so learn that Usages taken up against press-written Laws are Corruptions but not justifiable Customs One thing I shall adde more and it is a short Discourse How the Pulpit-Forms of Prayer were brought into the Church of England We must know then that in the time of Popery the manner commonly was to use the Lords Prayer or else an Ave Maria before Sermon so that when Edward the Sixth came to compose his Injunctions he made choice as he had good reason of the Lords Prayer for that purpose But because it was thought fit that the King 's just Supremacy in Ecclesiastical things should be at the least weekly published to the People it was thought expedient to premise to the ' Pater noster a Form as his Injunction stiles it of Bidding Prayer wherein the Priest was not to speak to God but only to the People exhorting them to pray instantly for such and such persons but he prayed not to God at all untill he closed with the Lords Prayer This was likewise confirm'd in the Injunctions of Queen Elizabeth and expresly call'd the Form
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