to find how the Doctrines and Principles Preached by others did agree or disagree with them as the Spirit of the Lord should give an Understanding and so according to receive or reject them And God in his Infinite Wisdom hath seen fit that the Writings of the ancient Prophets Apostles and Evangelists should only be this publick and universal outward Standard as having some peculiar excellency in them of plainness and briefness and comprehending much matter in few words and writ from a deeper and larger measure of the Divine Wisdom to which no writings or words since uttered are comparable in equality or in the service they were designed for And more might be said as to this matter to show the excellency of the Scriptures above all other writings or words the Scriptures being generally received and believed and that worthily to be pure and infallible Testimonies of Truth without any mixture of humane weakness error or mistake as they were originally writ and continue at this day as to the main and giving sufficient evidence and witness to necessary Truths which we are not bound to believe equally concerning any other writings as being wholly and throughout Infallible and therefore may take leave to question them and accordingly as we find them to agree or disagree with the said publick Standard of the Scriptures Testimony to receive or reject them in part or in whole And admitting or granting that many Testimonies of Good and Holy Men their Preaching Praying and Writing should wholly agree to the Scriptures Testimony and that they have also proceeded from a measure of the same Spirit purely and without all mixture yet they are not to be made equal with that which by the Appointment of God and general consent of Christians is made the publick Standard of Truth As in respect of an outward Testimony for in all Cities and Corporations the publick Standard of Weights and Measures is of greater and more Authority than any others however so just and agreeable to them And this Objection hath no more force or weight against Preaching and Praying by Divine Inspiration now than it had Two or Three Hundred Years after the Birth of Christ when it is generally confessed the gift of Preaching and Praying by the Immediate Inspiration of the Spirit did remain in the Church and yet their words were not held equal to the Scripture in that day And tho we may not add our Words and Testimonies the purest of them to be any part of Scripture yet we dare not be so Presumptuous as to say there never was nor ever shall be more Scripture than what we have at present for it is probable more of equal Authority with what we have hath been but is lost and possibly some judged Apocryphal by one sort may be of equal Authority and value with God and other good men with other parts of Scripture that are acknowledged Neither are all Christians yet agreed upon the number of the Books of Scripture but it sufficeth that so much is generally agreed upon as is sufficient to be a publick Standard And lastly this Objection can be equally retorted upon the makers of it For they do hold That all the Words in their Set Forms of Prayer are either plain express Scripture Words or deduced and deduceable from them by just and necessary consequence of Truth and what is so deduced are the real Commands and of Oracles God as they or at lest as most of them say as in the example of Infant Baptism which they hold to be a command of God consequently a Divine Oracle and yet they confess it is no where expressed in Scripture but only by consequence deduced from it the which notwithstanding is justly denyed by many to be any firm or sure consequence of Scripture And if none of their set Forms of Prayer have come originally no not in the least measure from the Spirit of God in those who Penned them it seemeth a great derogation to those Prayers and to render them of small value with the People therefore such who use this Objection against us should take heed lest they derogate from their own Prayers and so fall under the censure of their own Brethren But perhaps some will acknowledg that the Spirit helped those who Penned these set Forms of Prayer not only by exciting or moving their affections but also by working upon their Understandings and make them fruitful to conceive the matter or words of these Prayers but not Immediately or by an Immediate Divine Inspiration as the Spirit wrought in David and others who preached and prayed by Immediate Inspiration so as to make no use of their judgment and reason to find out the matter or chuse the words they expressed To this I answer that David or any other of the Prophets and Apostles when they were Immediately Inspired to Preach or Pray or Write made no use of their Judgment and Reason or other Faculties and Abilities of their Souls or that the Spirit of God which wrought in them made no use of them but as meer passive Subjects and Recipients is a thing commonly alledged by those men but no where proved either from express Words of Scripture nor from any just and necessary consequence therefrom Yea the contrary is manifest from Scripture that the Spirit of God wrought upon and used the Understanding and Rational Faculties and Abilities of the Prophets and Apostles not as meer passive Instruments alwaies or most frequently but made them fruitful to work and co-operate with him as Paul who Preached and Prayed by Immediate Inspiration as they do confess said That he had laboured more abundantly than the other Apostles which was not a meer bodily labouring but a travelling or labouring in Spirit more especially wherein his Understanding and rational Faculties were concerned as well as his Will and Affections which is also clearly implied in his following words Yet not I but the Grace of God with me So that it was not he alone nor the Grace alone but the Grace of God co-working with him that caused this earnest and servent labouring in Paul's Soul. Nor is there any more reason to say that the Understandings and Reasons of the Prophets and Apostles when they spoke by Immediate Revelation were wholly passive than to say their Wills and Affections were wholly passive or their Mouths and Tongues when they spoke And the diversity of Stile in the Pen-men of the Scriptures which varieth not only according to the natural gifts and parts wherewith they were more or less endued but also according to their Education and Acquired Parts doth sufficiently show they were not altogether passive The stiles and manner of expression used by Isaiah Paul and Luke clearly show their Education differing from the homely stile of Amos a Country-man who said He was no Prophet nor the Son of a Prophet Paul said he could Pray not only with the Spirit but with the Understanding meaning certainly that his Understanding might
praise the Name of the Lord for all his great and rich Mercies and Blessings And if the Spirit of the Lord did not enlighten the Understanding and Mind of Man to teach him what to seek and pray for but only did warm and heat Mens affections all this would be but a blind Devotion which all true Protestants cry out against c. That Heavenly and Sacred Fire that God sends down into the Hearts of his People is not a dark obscure Fire but shining and enlightening and hath Light as well as Heat in it The Spirit of Prayer and Supplication is not only a Spirit of Love but a Spirit of Wisdom and Understanding And though there is a kind of Prayer that may be and oft is without Words either expressed or conceived in the Understanding because there is a degree of Understanding in Man that transcendeth all Words I mean such Words as we commonly use which are the signs of things signified by them as Aristotle defineth Words Verba sunt signarerum i. e. Words are the signs of things In which high degree of Understanding the Spirit and Mind of Man reacheth to the Divine and Heavenly things themselves without these words where the things are words themselves or where the words and things are not distinct But the thing is its own word and the word that signifieth it as the thing it self But Aristotle so much admired for his worldly Wisdom and Philosophy as it seemeth knew not this Mystery nor yet do his followers Notwithstanding of which because the Lord who is Infinitely Bountiful and Gracious unto men doth not only inlighten and shine upon this highest part of Man's Understanding but also causeth his Light and Spirit of Wisdom and Understanding to descend to the lowest degree thereof even to his Reason and Imagination for the very Imagination of man is said in Scripture to be wrought upon by the Spirit of God see Isa. 26. 3. That which is Translated in and according to the Hebrew signifieth Imagination See also 1 Chron. 29. 18. Keep this for ever in the Imagination of the Thoughts c. Which inferiour and lower Powers of man's Soul cannot reach to Divine things without the signes of Words Therefore it pleaseth God to work upon the Understandings of Men so as to make them fruitful to bring forth good and pertinent Words of Truth as well as upon their minds and affections to bring forth the fruits of Holy and Spiritual desires Wherefore the Apostle Prayed to the Lord that God would establish the true Believers in him in every good word and work 2 Thes. 2. 17. Whence I conclude that good words are as real a Fruit of the Spirit as good works or desires and these good words must not be borrowed words from the mouths or lines of others made ready to our Hands but must spring from the inward fruitfulness of our own Understandings as the spirit of the Lord doth water them and make them fruitful after a Heavenly sort For it is not the Corn that lyeth upon the ground though ever so abundantly which hath grown in another Land or Country that denominates the Ground where it lyeth to be fruitful but that is only a fruitful Ground which bringeth forth from within it self as it is assisted by the Heavenly Rains and Influences the like Corn or any other Grain that is good and profitable And therefore it is not the abundance even of Scripture Words which a man receives into his memory or bare natural Understanding that simply makes his Mind and Understanding fruitful unto God but the inward sense and mystery of Scripture words must be opened in him by the Spirit of the Lord and then the Understanding of a man by the help of the Scripture words being inwardly and spiritually opened by the Holy Spirit brings forth as it were as so many Seeds a plentiful Harvest where the good Ground of the good and honest Heart yieldeth its fruit some Thirty some Sixty and some an Hundred Fold and alwaies with some increase So that although Scripture words have a most excellent service and use to the Children of God and their minds and understandings are made fruitful with the Spiritual knowledg and opening of them by the Spirit of the Lord As the ground or soil is with seed sown in it yet the understanding is not confined to the strict and precise number of scripture words but yieldeth an increase of other words from the same spirit and of the same tendency and signification As the seed that is sown yeildeth more Grains than what was sown These and such like openings in great plenty to the praise of God have livingly sprung up in me as concerning Prayer time after time and have at the present writing been livingly brought to my remembrance with an addition of many more which here I present to all Friendly and Loving Readers to whose hands this may come for a general service where I have handled and treated of things I hope soberly and fairly in the spirit of Love and Meekness not naming any Persons or Parties by way of reflection to provoke them to anger or dislike only with some Fervency But yet in true Love I have reproved and argued against those who pretend to Pray by the Spirit without a set Form and yet deny the spirits Immediate Teachings and assistance And tho I aim against Reading set Forms of Prayer so as to make that Reading to be Prayer it self yet I am not simply against Reading of Prayers which have in any measure proceeded from the spirit of God in the Ages past SOME QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS CONCERNING PRAYER And some Reasons that all Prayer in words whether conceived in the Heart or uttered and expressed by Mouth should be by the help of the Spirit helping us to conceive those words With an Answer to some Objections or seeming Reasons brought for using set Forms of Prayer read out of a Book Also concerning Singing or Praising God with a Psalm Quest. WHat is Prayer A. It is a calling upon the Name of God through Jesus Christ and the asking of him in Faith the things which we should or do desire Q. What are these things which we should desire and ask of God by Prayer A. They are many but may be reduced to these Three Heads 1. The things which are for God's Glory and the Sanctifying his great Name in the Earth 2. The things which we stand in need of or want as to our selves 3. We are also to Pray for others even for all men that they may be saved whose Day of Salvation is not expired yea for our greatest Enemies Also we are to Pray for the Church of God in general that God may build her up more and more preserve and defend her multiply his Graces and pour out his Spirit more abundantly upon her and upon her Members in their respective places and especially for those who have a publick Ministry in the Church that he may
Child and hath twins in her Womb that is hard for to make her miscarry in the one but she will miscarry also in the other and he that seeks to kill one of the Twins in the Mothers Belly shall be in hazard to kill the other also But why should the one be killed or choaked more than the other Or why should the Divine Begettings of Gods Holy Spirit in the Understanding of the Soul as also in its Reason and Imagination be strangled more than these in the Will and Affections feeing they have both one Father which is God as they have one Mother which is the Soul. And also seeing what is begot by the Spirit of the Lord in the Will and Desires or Affections of the Soul hath a great dependency what is begot by the same Spirit in the Understanding and Reason For the Children and Servants of God they love him as reasonable Creatures and on reasonable accounts and for reasonable causes yea they have the best and greatest reasons for to love him and those reasons are presented to the Soul by the Holy Spirit in the Understanding and reasonable Faculty And it is generally acknowledged that the Will and Affections do commonly follow the dictates and suggestions of the Understanding and according as the Thoughts of the Understanding whether good or bad do most prevail in the Soul the Will and Affections with the Desires thereof do imbrace what is presented whether it be a true and real good or only seeming and apparent So that the Wills and Affections of all Men are swayed by the strongest Dictates which raise and spring up from their Understanding and intellectual Faculties whether true or false And thus either Wisdom or Folly ruleth the Wills of all Men with their Desires and Affections and consequently all their Actions All good Men are led by wise and good Counsels which the Holy Spirit begets in them and all bad and evil men are led by foolish and evil Counsels And hence it is that every good man is a wise man and every wise man who is truly so is a good man and every bad or evil man is a fool and is called so in Scripture and all sin and wickedness is folly and the real effect and fruit of it Seeing therefore all good inclinations motions and Affections in the will of Man Rise from good and wise Counsels in the Understanding and Reason of Man we must needs say that the Holy Spirit doth operate in both Understanding and Will and begets those good and wise Meditations and Conceptions of Truth in order of Nature before the good Inclinations and Affections which afterwards he begetteth and causeth to arise in the Will. But these good and wise Meditations and Counsels cannot be without words at least inwardly spoke or conceived in the Reason or rational Understanding of Man. And therefore the Spirit of God doth no less help and assist the Understanding or Reason of Man to conceive good Words then it doth help the Will to conceive good Desires and Affections It is therefore a great mistake and error of judgment in those who think that the Spirit of God doth only excite or beget in his Children good Desires and Affections but doth not suggest unto them or help them to conceive good words of Meditation and that as well to pray and give thanks as to preach And seeing Preachers are not stinted to set Forms of words in Preaching why should they be any more stinted to set forms in Praying I cannot understand for the Spirit of God is as near and ready to assist in the one as in the other And if it be said that men Preach not ex tempore but by study and long premeditation and therefore they are in less danger to utter or express unsound and impertinent words in their deliberate and long premeditated Sermons than in their extemporary Prayers To this I Answer 1. It is found by frequent experience that even in those long studied and premeditated Sermons many men have uttered very impertinent and unsound yea false and hurtful words and expressions for it is not much or long time to study or premeditate a Discourse that maketh it good or soundp seeing they who err in their understandings and have received or drunk in wrong and false Doctrines and Principles of Religion and wrong and false Traditional Glosses and Interpretations of Scripture may Preach very unsound and erronious Sermons altho they have taken a long time to study and prepare them 2. According to the former Reply If men shall study before-hand their Prayers as well as their Sermons then they are in no greater danger to speak impertinent and unsound words in Prayer than in Preaching but rather they are less obnoxious to such a danger because in Prayer men commonly do not meddle with matters of controversie or disputable points of Doctrine as indeed it is not proper 3. He who preacheth or prayeth by the true and real assistance of the Holy Spirit as he keepeth faithfully and carefully unto the same altho what he doth either Preach or Pray proceedeth from premeditation It being impossible that the mouth can utter any thing but the heart or mind of man must first conceive it which is a true and real kind of premeditation yet he need eth not any long time for the said premeditation For when his heart and Soul is once well prepared and fitted to be the instrument of the Spirit whether in Preaching or Pray ing c. The which preparation of the Heart at times may require a considerable season longer or shorter as the man is more or less grown up in Vertue and Holiness i◠the least space of time imaginable as in moment or instant when it pleaseth the Lord to assist the understanding by the Divine influences of his Spirit it can be and 〈◊〉 is made fruitful to bring forth and conceive as many solid and living Meditations 〈◊〉 Truth as may sufficiently yield matter 〈◊〉 discourse in true and sound and living words for divers hours But if the Spirit should not suggest so much matter of discourse in so short a space as a moment or instant but only as much as to furnish the Speaker with two or three Sentences or perhaps but one Sentence at first before that one Sentence be well spoke further matter may and doth oft arise from openings of life in the understanding of the Speaker to speak more and so continually still new matter may be and oft is afforded to continue his speech longer or shorter as it pleaseth the Lord to require or as in the wisdom of God a service is seen or felt And indeed various and manifold as well as wonderful are the waies of the Lord towards his Servants whose mouthes he doth open either in Preaching or Praying in the Assemblies of his People For sometimes as one waiteth upon the Lord in pure silence and in holy fear and reverence his heart at the present time being