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<DATE>2012-02-22</DATE>
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<NAME>Jayanthi Reddy</NAME>
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<DIV1 TYPE="title page">
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<P>TWO DISCOVRSES
<LIST>
<ITEM>1. Of BAPTISME, Its In&s;titution, and Efficacy upon all Believers.</ITEM>
<ITEM>2. Of PRAYER <HI>Ex tempore,</HI> OR By pretence of the SPIRIT.</ITEM>
</LIST></P>
<P>By JER: TAYLOR D.D.</P>
<Q><BIBL><HI>1 COR. 14.32.</HI></BIBL>
<P><GAP DESC="foreign">.</P>
<P>And the &s;pirits of the Prophets are &s;ubject to the Prophets.</P>
<P>For God is not the Authour of confu&s;ion, but of peace, as in all Churches of the Saints.</P></Q>
<P>LONDON, Printed by <HI>J. Fle&s;her</HI> for <HI>R. Roy&s;ton,</HI> at the <HI>Angel</HI> in <HI>Ivy-Lane. MDCLIII.</HI></P>
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<PB N="1" REF="2">
<HEAD>A Di&s;cour&s;e concerning PRAYER <HI>Ex tempore,</HI> &amp;c.</HEAD>
<P>_I Have read over this Book which the A&s;&s;em|bly of Divines is plea&s;ed to call <HI>The Directo|ry for Prayer;</HI> I confe&s;&s;e I came to it with much expectation, and was in &s;ome mea|&s;ure confident I &s;hould have found it an ex|act and unblameable modell of Devotion, free from all tho&s;e objections which men of their own per&s;wa|&s;ion had obtruded again&s;t the publike Liturgy of the Church of <HI>England;</HI> or at lea&s;t, it &s;hould have been compo&s;ed with &s;o much artifice and finene&s;&s;e, that it might have been to all the world an Argument of their learning and excellency of &s;pirit, if not of the goodne&s;&s;e and integrity of their Religion and purpo&s;es. I &s;hall give no other character of the whole, but that the publike di&s;reli&s;h which I finde among&s;t per&s;ons of great piety, of all qualities, not only of great, but even of ordinary under&s;tandings, is to, me &s;ome argument that it lies &s;o open to the objections even of common &s;pirits, that the Compilers of it did intend more to prevaile by the &s;ucce&s;&s;e of their Ar|mies, then the &s;trength of rea&s;on, and the proper grounds of per&s;wa&s;ion, which yet mo&s;t wi&s;e and good men believe to be the more Chri&s;tian way of the two. But Sir, you have engaged me to &s;ay &s;omething in particular to &s;atisfie your con|&s;cience. In which al&s;o I de&s;ire I may re&s;erve a leave to my &s;elf to conceal much, if I may in little doe you &s;atisfaction.</P>
<PB N="2" REF="3">
<P><MILESTONE N="2" UNIT="Numb."> I &s;hall therefore decline to &s;peak of the Efficient can&s;e of this Directory, and not quarrell at it that is was compo&s;ed, a|gain&s;t the Lawes both of <HI>England</HI> and all Chri&s;tendome. If the thing were good and pious, I &s;hould learn to &s;ubmit to the impo&s;ition, and never quarrell at the incompetency of his authority that engaged me to doe pious and holy things. And it may be when I am a little more u&s;ed to it, I &s;hall not wonder at a Synod, in which not one Bi&s;hop &s;its (in the capacity of a Bi&s;hop) though I am mo&s;t certain this is the fir&s;t example in <HI>England,</HI> &s;ince it was fir&s;t Chri&s;tned. But for pre&s;ent it &s;eemes &s;omething hard to dige&s;t it, becau&s;e I know &s;o well that all A&s;&s;emblies of the Church have admitted Prie&s;ts to con&s;ultation and di&s;pute, but never to authority and deci&s;ion, till the Pope enlarging the phylacteries of the Archimandrites and Abbots, did &s;ometimes by way of priviledge and di&s;pen|&s;ation give to &s;ome of them deci&s;ive voyces in publike Coun|cels. But this was one of the things in which he did inno|vate and invade again&s;t the publike re&s;olutions of Chri&s;ten|dome, though he dur&s;t not doe it often, and when he did it, it was in very &s;mall and incon&s;iderate numbers.</P>
<P><MILESTONE N="3" UNIT="Numb."> I &s;aid I would not meddle with the Efficient, and I cannot meddle with the Finall cau&s;e, nor gue&s;&s;e at any other ends and purpo&s;es of theirs then at what they publiquely profe&s;&s;e, which is the abolition and de&s;truction of the Book of Common-Prayer; which great change, becau&s;e they are plea&s;ed to call Reformation, I am content in charity to believe they think it &s;o, and that they have <HI>Zelum Dei,</HI> but whether <HI>&s;ecundum &s;cien|tiam,</HI> according to knowledge or no, mu&s;t be judged by them who con&s;ider the matter and the forme.</P>
<P><MILESTONE N="4" UNIT="Numb."> But becau&s;e the matter is of &s;o great variety and minute con&s;ideration, every part whereof would require as much &s;cru|tiny as I purpo&s;e to be&s;tow upon the whole, I have for the pre&s;ent cho&s;en to con&s;ider only the form of it; and becau&s;e it pretends again&s;t the form of &s;et Lyturgy and that <HI>ex tem|pore</HI> forms doe &s;ucceed in room of the e&s;tabli&s;hed and deter|mined &s;ervices, I &s;hall give you my judgement of it, without any &s;harpne&s;&s;e or bitterne&s;&s;e of &s;pirit, for I am re&s;olved not
<PB N="3" REF="3">to be angry with any man of another per&s;wa&s;ion, as knowing that I differ ju&s;t as much from them as they doe from me.</P>
<P><MILESTONE N="5" UNIT="Numb."> And fir&s;t, I con&s;ider that the true &s;tate of the Que&s;tion is only this, Whether it is better to pray to God with con&s;idera|tion or without? whether is the wi&s;er man of the two, hee who thinks, and deliberates what to &s;ay, or he that utters his mind as fa&s;t as it comes? Whether is the better man, he who out of reverence to God is mo&s;t carefull and curious that he offend not in his tongue, and therefore he him&s;elfe deliberates and takes the be&s;t guides he can, or he who out of the con&s;i|derce of his own abilities or other exteriour a&s;&s;i&s;tances, &s;peaks what ever comes uppermo&s;t?</P>
<P><MILESTONE N="6" UNIT="Numb."> And here I have the advice and councell of a very wi&s;e man, no le&s;&s;e than <HI>Solomon, Eccle&s;.</HI> 5.2. <HI>Be not ra&s;h with thy mouth, and let not thy heart be ha&s;ty to utter any thing before God, for God is in heaven and thou upon earth, therefore, let thy words be few.</HI> The con&s;ideration of the va&s;t di&s;tance between God and us, Heaven and Earth, &s;hould create &s;uch apprehen&s;ions in us, that the very be&s;t and choyce&s;t of our offertoryes are not acceptable but by Gods gracious vouch&s;afeing and conde&s;cen&s;ion: and therefore &s;ince we are &s;o much indebted to God for accepting our be&s;t, it is not &s;afe ventured to pre&s;ent him with a dowbaked &s;acrifice, and put him off with that which in nature and humane con&s;ideration is ab&s;olutely the wor&s;t; for &s;uch is all the crude and imperfect utterance of our more imperfect conceptions. But let <HI>Solomons</HI> rea&s;on be what it will, good we are &s;ure it is. Let us con&s;ider who keeps the precept be&s;t; He that delibe|rates, or he that con&s;iders not but when he &s;peakes: What man in the world is ha&s;ty <HI>to offer any thing before God,</HI> if he bee not who prayes <HI>ex tempore?</HI> And then adde to it but the weight of <HI>Solomons</HI> rea&s;on, and let any man an&s;wer me if he thinks it can well &s;tand with that reverence we owe to the Immen&s;e, the infinite, and to the eternall God, the God of wi&s;dome, to offer him a &s;acrifice which we dur&s;t not pre&s;ent to a Prince, or a prudent Governour in <HI>re &s;eri&acirc;,</HI> &s;uch as our prayers ought to be.</P>
<P><MILESTONE N="7" UNIT="Numb."> And that this may not be da&s;hed with a pretence it is carnall
<PB N="4" REF="4">rea&s;oning I de&s;ire it may be remembred, that it is the argument God him&s;elfe u&s;es again&s;t lame, maimed, and imperfect &s;acrifices, <HI>Goe and offer this to thy Prince,</HI> &s;ee if he will accept it: Im|plying, that the be&s;t per&s;on is to have the be&s;t pre&s;ent; and what the Prince will &s;light as truly unworthy of him, much more is it unfit for God. For God accepts not of any thing we give or doe, as if he were bettred by it: for therefore its e&s;ti|mate is not taken by its relation or naturall complacency to him, it is all alike to him, for in it &s;elfe it is to him as no|thing. But God accepts it by its proportion, and commen&s;u|ration to us. That which we call our be&s;t, and is truly &s;o in humane e&s;timate, that plea&s;es God, for it declares that if we had better, we would give it him. But to re&s;erve the be&s;t, &s;ayes too plainly, that we think any thing is good enough for him. As therefore God in the Law would not be &s;erved by that which was imperfect in <HI>genere naturae:</HI> &s;o neither now nor ever will that plea&s;e him which is imperfect in <HI>geuere morum,</HI> or <HI>materi&acirc; intellectuali,</HI> when we can give a better.</P>
<P><MILESTONE N="8" UNIT="Numb."> Well then, in the nature of the thing, <HI>ex tempore</HI> forms have much the wor&s;e of it. But it is pretended that there is &s;uch a thing as the gift of Prayer, a praying with the Spirit, <HI>Et ne&s;cit tarda molimina &s;piritus &s;ancti gratia.</HI> Gods Spirit (if he plea&s;es) can doe his work as well in an in&s;tant, as in long pre|meditation. And to this purpo&s;e are pretended tho&s;e places of Scripture which &s;peak of the a&s;&s;i&s;tance of Gods Spirit in our prayers, <HI>Zech.</HI> 12.10. <HI>And I will poure upon the hou&s;e of</HI> Da|vid, <HI>and the inhabitants of Jeru&s;alem, the &s;pirit of grace and &s;up|plication.</HI> But e&s;pecially <HI>Rom.</HI> 8.26. <HI>Likewi&s;e the Spirit al&s;o helpeth our infirmities; for we know not what we &s;hould pray for as we ought, but the Spirit it &s;elfe maketh interce&s;&s;ion for us with groanings that cannot be uttered, &amp;c.</HI> From whence the Con|clu&s;ion that is inferred is in the words of Saint <HI>Paul, That we mu&s;t pray with the &s;pirit,</HI> therefore not with &s;et forms, therefore <HI>ex tempore.</HI></P>
<P><MILESTONE N="9" UNIT="Numb."> The Collection is &s;omewhat wild; for there is great inde|pendence in the &s;everall parts, and much more is in the Con|clu&s;ion, then was virtually in the premi&s;es. But &s;uch as it is, the
<PB N="5" REF="4">Authors of it I &s;uppo&s;e will own it. And therefore we will examine the maine de&s;ign of it, and then con&s;ider the particu|lar meanes of its per&s;wa&s;ion, quoted in the objection.</P>
<P><MILESTONE N="10" UNIT="Numb."> It is one of the priviledges of the Go&s;pel, and the benefit of Chri&s;ts a&s;cen&s;ion, that the holy Gho&s;t is given unto the Church, and is become to us the fountaine of gifts and graces. But the&s;e gifts and graces are improvements and helps of our naturall fa|culties, of our art and indu&s;try, not extraordinary, miraculous, and immediate infu&s;ions of habits and gifts. That without Gods Spirit we cannot pray aright; that our infirmities need his help; that we know not what to ask of our &s;elves, is mo&s;t true: and if ever any Heretique was more confident of his own naturals, or did ever more undervalue Gods grace then ever the <HI>Pelagians</HI> did, yet he denyes not this. But what then? Therefore without &s;tudy, without art, without premeditation, without learning, the &s;pirit gives the gift of prayer, and it is his grace, that without any naturall or artificiall help makes us pray <HI>ex tempore?</HI> No &s;uch thing: The Objection proves nothing of this.</P>
<P><MILESTONE N="11" UNIT="Numb."> Here therefore we will joyn i&s;&s;ue, whether the gifts and helps of the Spirit be immediate infu&s;ions of the Faculties, and powers, and perfect abilities? Or that he doth a&s;&s;i&s;t us only by his aydes externall and internall, in the u&s;e of &s;uch means which God and nature hath given to man, to ennoble his &s;oul, better his Facul|ties, and to improve his under&s;tanding? That the aydes of the holy Gho&s;t are only a&s;&s;i&s;tances to us in the u&s;e of naturall and artificiall means, I will undertake to prove, and from thence it will evidently follow, that labour, and hard &s;tudy, and pre|meditation will &s;oone&s;t purcha&s;e the gift of prayer, and a&s;cer|tain us of the a&s;&s;i&s;tance of the &s;pirit; and therefore &s;et forms of prayer, &s;tudyed and con&s;idered of are in a true and proper &s;en&s;e, and without enthu&s;ia&s;m, the fruits of the &s;pirit.</P>
<P N="1"><MILESTONE N="12" UNIT="Numb."> 1. Gods Spirit did a&s;&s;i&s;t the Apo&s;tles by wayes extraordina|ry, and fit for the fir&s;t in&s;titution of Chri&s;tianity: but doth a&s;&s;i&s;t us row by the expre&s;&s;es of tho&s;e fir&s;t a&s;&s;i&s;tances which he gave to them immediately. So that the holy Gho&s;t is the author of cur &s;aith, and we believe with the &s;pirit (it is Saint <HI>Pauls</HI> ex|pre&s;&s;ion)
<PB N="6" REF="5">and yet our beliefe comes by hearing and reading the holy Scriptures and their interpretations. Now reconcile the&s;e two together, Faith comes by hearing, and yet is the gift of the Spirit, and it &s;ayes, that the gifts of the Spirit are not ex|ta&s;ies, and immediate infu&s;ions of habits, but helps from God to enable us upon the u&s;e of the meanes of his own appoint|ment to believe, to &s;peak, to under&s;tand, to prophecy, and to pray.</P>
<P N="2"><MILESTONE N="13" UNIT="Numb."> 2. And that the&s;e are for this rea&s;on called gifts, and graces, and i&s;&s;ues of the Spirit, is &s;o evident and notorious, that the &s;peaking of an ordinary revealed truth, is called in Scripture <HI>a &s;peaking by the Spirit,</HI>
<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Vid.</HI> Act. 19.21. Act. 16.7, 8, 9, 10.</NOTE> 1 Cor. 12.8. <HI>No man can &s;ay that Je&s;ut is the Lord, but by the holy Gho&s;t.</HI> For if the holy Gho&s;t &s;upplyes us with materials, and fundamentals for our building, it is then enough to denominate the whole edifice to be of him, although the labour and the workman&s;hip be ours, upon ano|thers &s;tock. And this is it which the Apo&s;tles &s;peaks, 1 <HI>Cor.</HI> 2.13. <HI>Which things al&s;o we &s;peak, not in the words which mans wi&s;dome teacheth, but which the holy Gho&s;t teacheth, comparing &s;pirituall things with &s;pirituall.</HI> The holy Gho&s;t teaches, yet it is upon our co-operation, our &s;tudy and endeavour, while we compare &s;pirituall things with &s;pirituall; the holy Gho&s;t is &s;aid to teach us, becau&s;e the&s;e &s;pirituals were of his &s;ugge&s;tion and revelation.</P>
<P N="3"><MILESTONE N="14" UNIT="Numb."> 3. For it is a rule of the Schools, and there is much rea&s;on in it. <HI>Habitus infu&s;i infunduntur per modum acqui&s;itorum,</HI> what|&s;oever is infu&s;ed into us, is in the &s;ame manner infu&s;ed as other things are acquired, that is, &s;tep by &s;tep, by humane meanes and co-operation, and grace does not give us new fa|culties, and create another nature, but meliorates and improves our own. And what S. <HI>Paul</HI> &s;aid in the Re&s;urrection, is al&s;o true in this Que&s;tion, <HI>That is not fir&s;t which is &s;pirituall, but that which is naturall, and then that which is &s;pirituall.</HI> The graces and gifts of the Spirit are po&s;tnate, and are additions to art and nature. God directs our councels, opens our under&s;tan|dings, regulates our will, orders our affections, &s;upplies us with Objects, and Arguments, and opportunities, and revelations <HI>in &s;criptis,</HI> and then mo&s;t when we mo&s;t imploy our own en|deavours,
<PB N="7" REF="5">God loving to ble&s;&s;e all the meanes, and in&s;truments of his &s;ervice, whether they be naturall or acqui&s;ite.</P>
<P><MILESTONE N="15" UNIT="Numb."> But who&s;oever &s;hall look for any other gifts of the &s;pirit be|&s;ides the parts of nature helped by indu&s;try and Gods ble&s;&s;ing upon it, and the revelations or the &s;uppplyes of matter in holy Scripture, will be very farre to &s;eek, having neither rea&s;on, promi&s;e, nor experience of his &s;ide. For why &s;hould the &s;pirit of Prayer be any other than as the gift and &s;pirit of faith (as S. <HI>Paul</HI> calls it, 2 <HI>Cor.</HI> 4.13) acquired by humane meanes u&s;ing divine aids? that is, by our endeavours in hearing, reading, Catechizing, de|&s;ires to obey, and all this ble&s;&s;ed and promoted by God, this produces faith. And if the &s;pirit of Prayer be of greater con&s;e|quence, and hath a promi&s;e of a &s;peciall prerogative, let the fir&s;t be proved, and the &s;econd be &s;hewn in any good record, and then I will believe it too.</P>
<P N="4"><MILESTONE N="16" UNIT="Numb."> 4. And the parallel of this Argument I the rather urge, be|cau&s;e I find praying in the holy Gho&s;t joyned with graces, which are as much Gods gifts and productions of the &s;pirit as any thing in the world, and yet which the Apo&s;tle pre&s;&s;es upon us as duties and things put into our power, and to be improved by our in|du&s;try, and tho&s;e are faith (in which I before in&s;tanced) and charity, <HI>Epi&s;t. Jud. ver.</HI> 20. <HI>But ye (beloved) building up your &s;elves on your most holy Faith, praying in the holy Gho&s;t, keep your &s;elves in the love of God.</HI> All of the &s;ame con&s;ideration, Faith, and Prayer and Charity, all gifts of the Spirit, and yet build up your &s;elves in faith, and keep your&s;elves in love, and therefore by a parity of rea&s;on, improve your &s;elves in the &s;pirit of prayer, that is, God by his Spirit having &s;upplyed us with matter, let our indu&s;try and co-operations <HI>per modum naturae,</HI> improve the&s;e gifts, and build upon this foundation.</P>
<P><MILESTONE N="17" UNIT="Numb."> So that in effect, praying in the holy Gho&s;t or with the Spirit, is nothing but prayer for &s;uch things and in &s;uch manner which God by his Spirit hath taught us in holy Scripture. Holy prayers, &s;pirituall &s;ongs, &s;o the Apo&s;tle calls one part of prayer, <HI>viz.</HI> Eu|chari&s;ticall or thank&s;giving, that is, prayers or &s;ongs which are &s;pirituall <HI>in materi&acirc;.</HI> And if they be called &s;pirituall for the efficient cau&s;e too, the holy Gho&s;t being the Author of them, it comes all to one, for therefore he is the cau&s;e and giver of them,
<PB N="8" REF="6">becau&s;e he hath in his word revealed, what things we are to pray for, and there al&s;o hath taught us the manner.</P>
<P><MILESTONE N="18" UNIT="Numb."> And this is exactly the Doctrine I plainly gather from the ob|jected words of Saint <HI>Paul, (The &s;pirit helpeth our infirmities)</HI> How &s;o? it followes immediately, <HI>For we know not what we &s;hould pray for as we ought:</HI> So that therefore he is the Spirit of &s;uppli|cation and prayer, becau&s;e he teaches us what to ask, and how to pray, &s;o he helps our infirmities, <GAP DESC="foreign">, it is in the Greek <HI>Collaborantem adjuvat.</HI> It is an ingeminate expre&s;&s;ion of hel|ping us in our labours together with him. Now he that &s;hall &s;ay this is not &s;ufficiently done by Gods Spirit in Scripture by Prayers, and P&s;almes, and Hymnes, and Spirituall Songs, and precepts concerning prayer, &s;et down in that holy repo&s;itory of truth and devotion, undervalues that ine&s;timable trea&s;ure of the Spirit; and if it be &s;ufficiently done there, he that will multiply his hopes farther, then what is &s;ufficient, may po&s;&s;ibly deceive him&s;elf, but never deceive God, and make him multiply and con|tinue miracles, to ju&s;tifie his fancy.</P>
<P N="5"><MILESTONE N="19" UNIT="Numb."> 5. Better it is to follow the Scriptures for our guide, as in all things el&s;e, &s;o in this particular, <HI>Ephe&s;.</HI> 6.17, 18. <HI>Take the &s;word of the Spirit, which is the word of God. Praying alwayes with all prayer and &s;upplication in the &s;pirit.</HI> The Word of God is the &s;word of the Spirit; praying in the Spirit is one way of u&s;ing it, indeed the only way that he here &s;pecifies. Praying in the Spirit then being the u&s;ing of this Sword, and this Sword being the Word of God, it followes evidently, that praying in the Spirit, is praying in or according to the Word of God, that is, in the directions, rules and expre&s;&s;es of the Word of God, that is, of the holy Scriptures.</P>
<P><MILESTONE N="20" UNIT="Numb."> The &s;umme is this. What&s;oever this gift is, or this &s;pirit of Prayer, it is to be acquired by humane indu&s;try, by learning of the Scriptures, by reading, by conference, and by what&s;oever el&s;e faculties are improved, and habits enlarged. Gods Spirit hath done his work &s;ufficiently this way, and he loves not either in nature or grace (which are his two great &s;anctions) to multiply miracles when there is no need.</P>
<P N="6"><MILESTONE N="21" UNIT="Numb."> 6. So that now I demand, Whether or no, &s;ince the expiration of the Age of Miracles, does not Gods Spirit mo&s;t a&s;&s;i&s;t us, when
<PB N="9" REF="6">we mo&s;t endeavour and mo&s;t u&s;e the meanes? He that &s;ayes, No, di&s;courages all men from reading the Scriptures, from indu&s;try, from meditation, from conference, from humane Arts and Scien|ces, and from what&s;oever el&s;e God and good Lawes provoke us to by propo&s;ition of rewards: But if, Yea, (as mo&s;t certainly God will be&s;t crown the be&s;t endeavours) then the &s;pirit of Prayer is greate&s;t in him, who (&s;uppo&s;ing the like capacities and opportunities) &s;tudies harde&s;t, reads mo&s;t, practices mo&s;t religi|ou&s;ly, deliberates mo&s;t prudently; and then by how much want of meanes is wor&s;e then the u&s;e of meanes, by &s;o much <HI>ex tem|pore</HI> Prayers are wor&s;e then deliberate and &s;tudyed. Excellent therefore is the councell of S. <HI>Peter,</HI> 1 <HI>Ep. Chap.</HI> 4. <HI>ver.</HI> 11. <HI>If any man &s;peak, let him &s;peak as the Oracles of God,</HI> (not lightly then and incon&s;iderately) <HI>If any man mini&s;ter, let him doe it as of the ability which God giveth:</HI> (great rea&s;on then to put all his abilities and faculties to it) and whether of the two does mo&s;t likely doe that, he that takes paines, and con&s;iders, and di&s;cu&s;&s;es, and &s;o approves and practi&s;es a form, or he that never con&s;iders what he &s;ayes, till hee &s;ayes it, needs not much deliberation to pa&s;&s;e a &s;entence.</P>
<P N="7"><MILESTONE N="22" UNIT="Numb."> 7. La&s;tly, did not the Penmen of the Scripture, write the E|pi&s;tles and Go&s;pels re&s;pectively all by the Spirit? Mo&s;t certain|ly, holy men of God <HI>&s;poke as they were moved by the holy Gho&s;t,</HI> &s;aith Saint <HI>Peter.</HI> And certainly they were moved by a more immediate motion, and a motion nearer to an Enthu&s;ia&s;me, then now adayes in the gift and &s;pirit of Prayer. And yet in the mid&s;t of tho&s;e great a&s;&s;i&s;tances and motions they did u&s;e &s;tudy, art, in|du&s;try, and humane abilities. This is more then probable in the different &s;tyles of the &s;everall Books, &s;ome being of admirable art, others lower and plaine. The words were their own, at lea&s;t &s;ometimes, not the holy Gho&s;ts. And if the Fathers and Gram|marians were not deceived by fal&s;e Copies, but that they truly did ob&s;erve, &s;ometimes to be propriety of expre&s;&s;ion in the language, &s;ometimes not true Greek, who will think tho&s;e er|routs or imperfections in Grammar, were (in re&s;pect of the words I &s;ay preci&s;ely) immediate in&s;pirations and dictates of the holy Gho&s;t, and not rather their own productions of indu&s;try and humanity? But clearely &s;ome of their words were the words
<PB N="10" REF="7">of <HI>Aratus,</HI> &s;ome of <HI>Epimenides,</HI> &s;ome of <HI>Menander,</HI> &s;ome of Saint <HI>Paul,</HI> [<HI>This &s;peak I, not the Lord,</HI> 1 <HI>Cor.</HI> 7.] and yet becau&s;e the holy Gho&s;t renewed their memory, im|proved their under&s;tanding, &s;upplyed to &s;ome their want of humane learning, and &s;o a&s;&s;i&s;ted them that they &s;hould not com|mit an errour in fact or opinion, neither in the narrative nor dogmaticall parts, therefore they writ by the Spirit. Since then we cannot pretend upon any grounds of probability to an in&s;pi|ration &s;o immediate as theirs, and yet their a&s;&s;i&s;tances which they had from the Spirit did not exclude humane arts, and indu|&s;try, but that the able&s;t Scholler did write the be&s;t, much rather is this true in the gifts and a&s;&s;i&s;tances we receive, and particularly in the gift of Prayer, it is not an <HI>ex tempore</HI> and an in&s;pired fa|culty, but the faculties of nature and the abilities of art and in|du&s;try are improved and ennobled by the &s;upervening a&s;&s;i&s;tances of the Spirit.</P>
<P><MILESTONE N="23" UNIT="Numb."> And now let us take a man that pretends he hath the gift of Prayer, and loves to pray <HI>ex tempore,</HI> I &s;uppo&s;e his thoughts goe a little before his tongue; I demand then, Whether cannot this man, when it is once come into his head, hold his tongue, and write down what he hath conceived? If his fir&s;t conceptions were of God and Gods Spirit, then they are &s;o &s;till, even when they are written. Or is the Spirit departed from him, upon the &s;ight of a pen and Ink-horn? It did u&s;e to be otherwi&s;e among the old and new Prophets, whether they were Prophets of Pre|diction, or of ordinary Mini&s;tery. But if his conception may be written, and being written is &s;till a production of the Spirit, then it follows that &s;et-forms of Prayer deliberate and de&s;cribed, may as well be a praying with the Spirit, as &s;udden forms and <HI>ex|tempore</HI> out lets.</P>
<P><MILESTONE N="24" UNIT="Numb."> Now the ca&s;e being thus put, I would faine know what the difference is between deliberate and <HI>ex tempore</HI> Prayers, &s;ave only that in the&s;e there is le&s;&s;e con&s;ideration and prudence; for that the other are (at lea&s;t as much as them) the productions of the Spirit, is evident in the very ca&s;e put in this very Argu|ment: and whether to con&s;ider and to weigh them, be any di&s;ad|vantage to our devotions, I leave it to all wi&s;e men to determine. So that in effect, &s;ince after the pretended a&s;&s;i&s;tance of the Spirit
<PB N="11" REF="7">in our Prayers, we may write them down, con&s;ider them, try the &s;pirits, and ponder the manner, the rea&s;on and the religion of the addre&s;&s;e; let the world judge whether this &s;udden ut|terance and <HI>ex tempore</HI> forms be any thing el&s;e, but a direct re|&s;olution not to con&s;ider before-hand what we &s;peak.</P>
<P><MILESTONE N="25" UNIT="Numb."> But let us look a little further into the my&s;tery, and &s;ee what is meant in Scripture by <HI>praying with the Spirit.</HI> In what &s;en&s;e the holy Gho&s;t is called the <HI>&s;pirit of Prayer,</HI> I have already &s;hewn, <HI>viz.</HI> by the &s;ame rea&s;on, as he is the <HI>&s;pirit of faith,</HI> of <HI>prudence,</HI> of <HI>knowledge,</HI> of <HI>under&s;tanding,</HI> and the like. But <HI>praying with the &s;pirit</HI> hath be&s;ides this other &s;en&s;es al&s;o in Scripture. I finde in one place, that then we pray with the Spirit, when the holy Gho&s;t does actually excite us to de&s;ires and earne&s;t tendencies to the obtaining our holy purpo&s;es, when he gives us zeale and devotion, charity and fervour, &s;pirituall violence and holy impor|tunity. This &s;en&s;e is al&s;o in the latter part of the objected words of Saint <HI>Paul, Rom.</HI> 8. <HI>The Spirit it &s;elfe maketh interce&s;sion for us with groanings, &amp;c.</HI> Indeed this is truly a praying in the &s;pirit; but this will doe our reverend Brethren of the A&s;&s;embly little advantage as to the pre&s;ent Que&s;tion. For this &s;pirit is not a &s;pirit of utterance; not at all clamorous in the eares of the people, but cryes loud in the eares of God with <HI>[groanes unut|terable]</HI> &s;o it followes, and only <HI>[He that &s;earcheth the heart, he under&s;tandeth the meaning of the &s;pirit.]</HI> This is the &s;pirit of the Son, which God hath &s;ent into our hearts, (not into our tongues) whereby we cry, <HI>Abba,</HI> Father, <HI>Gal.</HI> 4.6. And this is the great <GAP DESC="foreign"> for mentall Prayer, which is properly and truly praying by the Spirit.</P>
<P><MILESTONE N="26" UNIT="Numb."> Another praying with the Spirit I find in that place of S <HI>Paul,</HI> from whence this expre&s;&s;ion is taken, and commonly u&s;ed, <HI>I will pray with the &s;pirit, and I will pray with the understanding al&s;o.</HI> Here they are oppo&s;ed, or at lea&s;t declared to be things &s;everall and di&s;parate: where by the way ob&s;erve, that praying with the &s;pirit, even in &s;en&s;e of Scripture, is not alwayes mo&s;t to edificati|on of the people. Not alwayes with under&s;tanding. And when the&s;e two are &s;eparated, St <HI>Paul</HI> prefers five words with under|&s;tanding, before ten thou&s;and in the &s;pirit. For this praying with the &s;pirit was indeed then a gift extraordinary and miraculous,
<PB N="12" REF="8">like as prophecying with the &s;pirit, and expired with it. But while it did la&s;t, it was the lowe&s;t of gifts, <HI>Inter dona linguarum,</HI> it was but a gift of the tongue, and not to be the benefit of the Church directly or immediately.</P>
<P><MILESTONE N="27" UNIT="Numb."> By the way only. If Saint <HI>Paul</HI> did &s;o undervalve the praying with the Spirit, that he preferred edifying the Church a thou|&s;and degrees beyond it. I &s;uppo&s;e he would have been of the &s;ame mind, if this Que&s;tion had been between praying with the Spirit and obeying our &s;uperiors, as he was when it was be|tween praying with the Spirit and edification of the Church, be|cau&s;e (if I be not mi&s;taken) it is matter of great concernment towards the edification of the Church to obey our &s;uperiours, not to innovate in publick formes of wor&s;hip, e&s;pecially with the &s;candall and offence of very wi&s;e and learned men, and to the di&s;|grace of the dead Martyrs, who &s;ealed our Liturgy with their blood.</P>
<P><MILESTONE N="28" UNIT="Numb."> But to return. In this place praying with the Spirit, is no more then my &s;pirit praying. For &s;o S. <HI>Paul</HI> joynes them as terms identicall, and expre&s;&s;ive one of anothers meaning, as you may plea&s;e to read <HI>ver.</HI> 14. and 15. 1 <HI>Cor.</HI> 14. <HI>I will pray with the Spirit, and my Spirit truly prayeth.</HI> It is the act of our inner man, praying holy and &s;pirituall Prayers. But then indeed at that time there was &s;omething extraordinary joyned, for it was in an un|known tongue, the practice of which S. <HI>Paul</HI> there di&s;likes. This al&s;o will be to none of their purpo&s;es. For whether it were <HI>ex tempore,</HI> or by premeditation, is not here expre&s;&s;ed; or if it had, yet that a&s;&s;i&s;tance extraordinary in prayer, if there was any be&s;ide the gift of tongues (which I much doubt) is no more tran&s;mitted to us, then the &s;peaking tongues in the &s;pirit, or prophecyring <HI>ex tempore</HI> and by the &s;pirit.</P>
<P><MILESTONE N="29" UNIT="Numb."> But I would adde al&s;o one experiment which S. <HI>Paul</HI> al&s;o there addes by way of in&s;tance. If praying with the &s;pirit in this place be praying <HI>ex tempore,</HI> then &s;o is &s;inging too. For they are ex|pre&s;&s;ed in the &s;ame place, in the &s;ame manner, to the &s;ame end, and I know to rea&s;on why there &s;hould be differing &s;en&s;es put upon them to &s;erve purpo&s;es. And now let us have &s;ome Church-mu&s;ick too, though the Organs be pulled down, and let any the be&s;t P&s;almi&s;t of them all, compo&s;e a hymne in metricall forme,
<PB N="13" REF="8">and &s;ing it to a new tune with perfect and true mu&s;ick, and all this <HI>ex tempore.</HI> For all this the holy Gho&s;t can doe if he plea&s;es. But if it be &s;aid that the <HI>Corinthian</HI> Chri&s;tians compo&s;ed their &s;ongs and hymnes according to art and rules of mu&s;ick, by &s;tudy and indu&s;try, and that to this they were a&s;&s;i&s;ted by the Spirit; and that this together with the devotion of their &s;pirit, was &s;ing|ing with the &s;pirit, then &s;ay I, &s;o compo&s;ing &s;et forms of Lytur|gy by skill and prudence, and humane indu&s;try, may be as much praying with the &s;pirit as the other is &s;inging with the &s;pirit. Plainly enough. In all the &s;en&s;es of praying with the &s;pirit, and in all its acceptations in Scripture, to pray or &s;ing with the &s;pirit, neither of them of nece&s;&s;ity implyes <HI>ex tempore.</HI></P>
<P><MILESTONE N="30" UNIT="Numb."> The &s;umme or <HI>Collecta</HI> of the premi&s;es is this, Praying with the &s;pirit, is either when the &s;pirit &s;tirres up our de&s;ires to pray, <HI>Per motionem actualis auxilii,</HI> or when the &s;pirit teaches us what, or how to pray, telling us the matter, and manner of our prayers. Or la&s;tly, dictating the very words of our prayers. There is no other way in the world to pray with the &s;pirit, or in the holy Gho&s;t, that is pertinent to this Que&s;tion. And of this la&s;t manner the Scripture determines nothing, nor &s;peaks any thing expre&s;&s;ely of it, and yet &s;uppo&s;e it had, we are certaine the holy Gho&s;t hath &s;upplyed us with all the&s;e, and yet in &s;et formes of prayer be&s;t of all, I meane there where a difference can be. For as for the de&s;ires, and actuall motions or incitements to pray, they are indifferent to one or the other, to &s;et-forms or to <HI>ex tempore.</HI> 2. But as to the matter and manner of prayer, it is clearly con|tained in the expre&s;&s;es, and &s;et forms of Scriptures, and it is &s;upplyed to us by the &s;pirit, for he is the great Dictaror of it.</P>
<P><MILESTONE N="31" UNIT="Numb."> Now then for the very words. No man can a&s;&s;ure me that the words of his <HI>ex tempore</HI> prayer are the words of the holy Spirit: it is not rea&s;on nor mode&s;ty to expect &s;uch immediate a&s;&s;i&s;tances to &s;o little purpo&s;e, he having &s;upplyed us with abilities more then enough to expre&s;&s;e our de&s;ires <HI>aliunde,</HI> otherwi&s;e then by imme|diate dictate. But if we will take <HI>Davids</HI> P&s;alter, or the other hymnes of holy Scripture, or any of the Prayers which are re&s;per&s;ed over the Bible, we are &s;ure enough that they are the words of Gods Spirit, mediately or immediately, by way of in|fu&s;ion or exta&s;ie, by vi&s;ion, or at lea&s;t by ordinary a&s;&s;i&s;tance. And
<PB N="14" REF="9">now then, what greater confidence can any man have for the ex|cellency of his Prayer, and the probability of their being accep|ted, then when he prayes his P&s;alter, or the Lords Prayer, or ano|ther office which he finds con&s;igned in Scripture? When Gods Spirit &s;tirs us up<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="UOM" EXTENT="1 letter">o an actuall devotion, and then we u&s;e the mat|ter hee hath de&s;cribed and taught, and the very words which Chri&s;t, and Chri&s;ts Spirit, and the Apo&s;tles, and other per&s;ons full of the holy Gho&s;t did u&s;e; if in the world there be any praying with the Spirit, (I mean in vocall prayer) this is it.</P>
<P>And thus I have examined the intire and full &s;cope of this Que&s;tion, and rifled their Objection. Now I &s;hall proceed to &s;ome few Arguments which are more extrin&s;ecall to the nature of the thing.</P>
<P><MILESTONE N="32" UNIT="Numb."> It is a practice prevailing among tho&s;e of our Brethren that are zealous for <HI>ex tempore</HI> prayers, to pray their Sermons over, to re|duce their doctrine into Devotion and Lyturgy. I mi&s;like it not for the thing it &s;elfe, if it were done regularly for the manner, and the matter were alwayes pious and true. But who &s;hall a&s;&s;ure me when the preacher hath di&s;puted, or rather dogmatically decreed a point of prede&s;tination, or of pre&s;cience, of contingency, or of liberty, or any of the mo&s;t my&s;terious parts of Divinity, and then prayes his Sermon over, that he then prayes with the Spirit? Unle&s;&s;e I be &s;ure that he al&s;o preached with the Spirit, I cannot be &s;ure that he prayes with the &s;pirit, for all he prayes <HI>ex tempore.</HI> Nay, if I heare a Prote&s;tant preach in the morning, and an Anabapti&s;t in the afternoone, to day a Presbyterian, to morrow an Independent, am I not mo&s;t &s;ure that when they have preached Contradictories, and all of them pray their Ser|mons over, that they doe not all pray with the &s;pirit? More than one in this ca&s;e cannot pray with the &s;pirit, po&s;&s;ibly all may pray again&s;t him.</P>
<P N="2"><MILESTONE N="33" UNIT="Numb."> 2. From whence I thus argue in behal&s;e of &s;et forms of prayer. That in the ca&s;e above put, how &s;hall I or any man el&s;e &s;ay Amen to their prayers that preach and pray contradictories? At lea&s;t I am much hindred in my devotion. For be&s;ides that, it derives our opinions into our devotions, makes every &s;choole point become our religion, and makes God a party, (&s;o farre as we can) intitling him to our impertinent wranglings. Be&s;ides
<PB N="15" REF="9">this, I &s;ay, while we &s;hould attend to our addre&s;&s;es towards God, we are to con&s;ider whether the point be true or no, and by that time we have tacitly di&s;cour&s;ed it, we are upon another point which al&s;o perhaps is as Que&s;tionable as the former, and by this time our &s;pirit of devotion is a little di&s;compo&s;ed and &s;omething out of countenance, there is &s;o much other imployment for the &s;pirit, the &s;pirit of di&s;cerning and judging. All which inconve|niences are avoyded in &s;et formes of Liturgy. For we know be|fore hand the conditions of our Communion, and to what we are to &s;ay Amen, to which if we like it we may repaire; if not, there is no harm done; your devotion &s;hall not be &s;urprized, nor your Communion invaded, as it may be and often is in your <HI>ex tempore</HI> prayers. And this thing hath another collaterall inconve|nience, which is of great con&s;ideration; for upon what confidence can we &s;ollicite any Recu&s;ants to come to our Church, where we cannot promi&s;e them that the devotions there to be u&s;ed, &s;hall be innocent, nor can we put him into a condition to judge for him&s;elfe? If hee will venture he may, but we can u&s;e no Argu|ment to make him choo&s;e our Churches, though he &s;hould quit his own.</P>
<P N="3"><MILESTONE N="34" UNIT="Numb."> 3. But again, let us con&s;ider with &s;obriety. Are not tho&s;e prayers and hymnes in holy Scripture, excellent compo&s;itions, admirable in&s;truments of devotion, full of piety, rare and in|comparable addre&s;&s;es to God? Dare any man with his gift of prayer pretend, that he can <HI>ex tempore</HI> or by &s;tudy make better? Who dares pretend that he hath a better &s;pirit then <HI>David</HI> had, or then the Apo&s;tles and Prophets, and other holy per&s;ons in Scripture, who&s;e Prayers and P&s;almes are by Gods Spirit con|&s;igned to the u&s;e of the Church for ever? Or will it be denyed but that they al&s;o are excellent directories and patterns for prayer? And if patterns, the nearer we draw to our example, are not the imitations and repre&s;entments the better? And what then if we took the &s;amplers them&s;elves, is there any imper|fection in them, and can we mend them and correct <HI>Magnificat?</HI></P>
<P><MILESTONE N="35" UNIT="Numb."> In a ju&s;t porportion and commen&s;uration, I argue &s;o concerning the primitive and ancient forms of Church &s;ervice, which are com|po&s;ed according to tho&s;e &s;o excellent patterns, which if they had remained pure as in their fir&s;t in&s;titution, or had alwayes been
<PB N="16" REF="10">as they have been reformed by the Church of <HI>England,</HI> they would again&s;t all defiance put in for the next place to tho&s;e formes or Liturgy which <HI>Mutatis mutandis</HI> are nothing but the Words of Scripture. But I am re&s;olved at this pre&s;ent not to enter into Que&s;tion concerning the matter of prayers. But for the forme this I &s;ay further.</P>
<P N="4"><MILESTONE N="36" UNIT="Numb."> 4. That the Church of God hath the promi&s;e of the &s;pirit made to her in generall, to her in her Catholick and united ca|pacity, to the whole Church fir&s;t, then to particular Churches, then in the lowe&s;t &s;eat of the Category to &s;ingle per&s;ons. Now then I infer, if any &s;ingle per&s;ons will have us to believe without all po&s;&s;ibility of proofe (for &s;o it mu&s;t be) that they pray with the Spirit, (for how &s;hall they be able to prove the &s;pirit actu|ally to abide in tho&s;e &s;ingle per&s;ons) then much rather mu&s;t we believe it of the Church, which by how much the more ge|nerall it is, &s;o much the more of the &s;pirit &s;he is likely to have; and then if there be no errours in the matter, the Church hath the advantage and probability on her &s;ide, and if there be an er|rour in matter in either of them, they faile of their pretences, neither of them have the &s;pirit. But the publick &s;pirit in all rea&s;on is to be tru&s;ted before the private, when there is a con|te&s;tation, the Church being <HI>Prior &amp; potior in promi&s;&s;is,</HI> &s;he hath a greater and <HI>prior</HI> title to the &s;pirit. And why the Church hath not the &s;pirit of prayer in her compo&s;itions as well as any of her children, I de&s;ire once for all to be &s;atisfied upon true grounds either of rea&s;on or revelation.</P>
<P N="5"><MILESTONE N="37" UNIT="Numb."> 5. Or if the Church &s;hall be admitted to have the gift, and the &s;pirit of prayer given unto her by virtue of the great pro|mi&s;e of the &s;pirit, to abide with her for ever, yet for all this &s;he is taught to pray in a &s;et form of prayer, and yet by the &s;pirit too. For what think we? When Chri&s;t taught us to pray in that incomparable modell, the Lords Prayer, if we pray that prayer devoutly, and with pious and actuall intention, doe we not pray in the Spirit of Chri&s;t, as much as if we prayed any other form of words pretended to be taught us by the Spirit? Wee are &s;ure that Chri&s;t and Chri&s;ts Spirit taught us this Prayer; they only gather by conjectures and opinions, that in their <HI>ex tem|pore</HI> forms the &s;pirit of Chri&s;t teaches them. So much then as
<PB N="17" REF="10">certainties are better then uncertaines, and God above man, &s;o much is this &s;et form (be&s;ides the infinite advantages in the mat|ter) better then their <HI>ex tempore</HI> forms in the form it &s;elfe.</P>
<P N="6"><MILESTONE N="38" UNIT="Numb."> 6. If I &s;hould de&s;cend to minutes and particulars, I could in|&s;tance in the behalfe of &s;et forms, that God pre&s;cribed to <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> a &s;et form of prayer and benediction to be u&s;ed when he did ble&s;&s;e the people. 7. That <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> compo&s;ed a &s;ong or hymne for the children of I&s;rael to u&s;e to all their generations. 8. That <HI>David</HI> compo&s;ed many for the &s;ervice of the tabernacle. 9. That <HI>Solomon</HI> and the holy Kings of <HI>Judah</HI> brought them in and con|tinued them in the mini&s;tration of the temple. 10. That all Scripture is written for our learning, and &s;ince all the&s;e and many more &s;et forms of prayer are left there upon record, it is more then probable that they were left there for our u&s;e and devotion. 11. That S. <HI>John</HI> Bapti&s;t taught his Di&s;ciples a forme of prayer. 12. And that Chri&s;ts Di&s;ciples begged the &s;ame favour, and it was granted as they de&s;ired it. 13. And that Chri&s;t gave it not only <HI>in ma&s;&s;&acirc; materiae,</HI> but <HI>in forma verborum;</HI> not in a confu&s;ed heap of matter, but in an exact compo&s;ure of words, it makes it evident, he intended it not only <HI>pro regula petendo|rum,</HI> for a direction of what things we are to ask, but al&s;o <HI>pro forma orationis,</HI> for a &s;et form of Prayer. In which al&s;o I am mo&s;t certainly confirmed (be&s;ides the univer&s;all te&s;timony of Gods Church &s;o atte&s;ting it) in the precept which Chri&s;t ad|ded, <HI>When ye pray, pray after this manner:</HI> and indeed it points not the matter only of our prayers, but the form of it, the manner and the matter of the addre&s;&s;e both. But in the repetition of it by Saint <HI>Luke,</HI> the preceptive words &s;eeme to limit us, and direct us to this very form of words, <HI>When ye pray, &s;ay, Our Father, &amp;c.</HI> 14. I could al&s;o adde the example of all the Jewes, and by con&s;equence of our ble&s;&s;ed Saviour, who &s;ung a great part of <HI>Davids</HI> P&s;alter in their fea&s;t of Pa&s;&s;eover, which part is called by the Iewes the great <HI>Hallelujah,</HI> it begins at the 113 P&s;alm, and ends at the 118 inclu&s;ively. And the Scripture mentions it as part of our ble&s;&s;ed Saviours devotion, and of his Di&s;ciples, that they &s;ung a P&s;alme. 15. That this afterward became a Precept Evangelicall, that we &s;hould prai&s;e God in Hymnes, P&s;almes, and &s;pirituall Songs, which is a form of Liturgy, in
<PB N="18" REF="11">which we &s;ing with the &s;pirit, but yet cannot make our Hymnes <HI>ex tempore,</HI> (it would be wild &s;tuffe if we &s;hould goe about it.) 16. And la&s;tly, that a &s;et form of wor&s;hip and addre&s;&s;e to God was recorded by Saint <HI>John,</HI>
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Apoc. 15.</NOTE> and &s;ung in heaven, and it was compo&s;ed out of the &s;ongs of <HI>Mo&s;es,</HI> (<HI>Exod.</HI> 15.) of <HI>David, P&s;al.</HI> 145.) and of <HI>Jeremy,</HI> (<HI>Chap.</HI> 10.6, 7.) which certainly is a very good precedent for us to imitate, although but revealed to Saint <HI>John</HI> by way of vi&s;ion and exta&s;ie. All which and many more are to me as &s;o many Arguments of the u&s;e, excellency, and nece&s;&s;ity of &s;et forms of Prayer for publick Liturgies, and of greate&s;t conveniencie, even for private devotions.</P>
<P N="17"><MILESTONE N="39" UNIT="Numb."> 17. And &s;o the Church of God in all Ages did under&s;tand it. I &s;hall not multiply Authorities to this purpo&s;e, for they are too many and various; but &s;hall only ob&s;erve two great in&s;tances of their beliefe and practi&s;e in this particular. 1. The one is the perpetuall u&s;e and great Eulogies of the Lords Prayer, a&s;&s;i&s;ted by the many Commentaries of the Fathers upon it. 2. The other is that &s;olemn form of benediction and my&s;ticall prayer (as Saint <HI>Augu&s;tine</HI> calls it, <HI>Lib.</HI> 3. <HI>de Trinit. c.</HI> 4.) which all Churches (and them&s;elves &s;aid it was by Ordinance Apo&s;toli|call) u&s;ed in the Con&s;ecration of the ble&s;&s;ed Sacrament. But all of them u&s;ed the Lords Prayer in the Canon, and office of Con&s;ecration, and other prayers taken from Scripture, (&s;o <HI>Ju&s;tin Martyr</HI> te&s;tifies, that the Con&s;ecration is made <HI>per preces verbi Dei,</HI> by the prayers taken from the Word of God) and the whole Canon was &s;hort, determined and my&s;terious.</P>
<P><MILESTONE N="40" UNIT="Numb."> Who de&s;ires to be further &s;atisfied in this particular, &s;hall find enough in <HI>Walafridus Strabo, Aymonius, Ca&s;&s;ander, Flacius Illyricus, Jo&s;ephus Vicecomes,</HI> and the other Rituali&s;ts, and in the old offices them&s;elves. So that I need not put you in mind of that famous doxology of <HI>Gloria Patria, &amp;c.</HI> nor the <HI>Tri&s;agi|on,</HI> nor any of tho&s;e memorable hymnes u&s;ed in the Ancient Church, &s;o knownly and frequently, that the beginning of them came to bee their name, and they were known more by their own words, then the Authors in&s;cription.</P>
<P><MILESTONE N="41" UNIT="Numb."> At la&s;t when &s;ome men that thought them&s;elves better gifted would be venturing at conceived formes of their own, there was a timely re&s;traint made in the Councell of <HI>Milevis</HI> in
<PB N="19" REF="11"><HI>Africa, Placuit ut preces quae probatae fuerint in Concilio ab omnibus celebrentur, nec aliae omnino dicantur in Eccle&s;ia, ni&s;i quae &agrave; pruden|tioribus factae fuerint in Synodo.</HI> That's the re&s;traint and prohibi|tion, publick prayers mu&s;t be &s;uch as are publickly appointed, and pre&s;cribed by our Superiours; and no private forms of our con|ceiving mu&s;t be u&s;ed in the Church. The rea&s;on followes, <HI>Ne forte aliquid contra fidem, vel per ignorantiam, vel per minus &s;tudi|um &s;it compo&s;itum:</HI> Le&s;t through ignorance or want of delibera|tion any thing be &s;poken in our prayers again&s;t faith [and good manners.] The rea&s;on is good, and they are eare-witne&s;&s;es of it that hear the variety of prayers before and after Sermons, there, where the Directory is practi&s;ed, where (to &s;peak mo&s;t mode&s;t|ly) not only their private opinions, but al&s;o humane intere&s;ts, and their own per&s;onall concernments, and wild fancies, born per|haps not two dayes before, are made the objects of the peoples hopes, of their de&s;ires, and their prayers, and all in the meane time pretend to the holy Spirit.</P>
<P><MILESTONE N="42" UNIT="Numb."> I will not now in&s;tance in the vaine-glory that is appendant to the&s;e <HI>ex tempore</HI> formes of prayer, where the gift of the man is more then the devotion of the man: nor will I con&s;ider that then his gift is be&s;t, when his prayer is longe&s;t: and if he take a complacency in his gift (as who is not apt to doe it?) he will be &s;ure to extend his Prayer, till a &s;u&s;picious and &s;crupulous man would be apt to &s;ay, his prayer pre&s;&s;ed hard upon that which our ble&s;&s;ed Saviour reprehended in the Phari&s;ees, who thought to bee heard for their much babling. But the&s;e things are accidentall to the nature of the thing. And therefore though they are too certainly con&s;equent to the per&s;on, yet I will not be too &s;evere, but pre&s;erve my &s;elfe on the &s;urer &s;ide of charitable con&s;truction, which truly I de&s;ire to keep, nor only to their per&s;ons whom I much reverence, but al&s;o to their actions. But yet I dur&s;t not doe the &s;ame thing, even for the&s;e la&s;t rea&s;ons, though I had no other.</P>
<P><MILESTONE N="43" UNIT="Numb."> But it is objected, that in &s;et forms of Prayer, we re&s;train and confine the ble&s;&s;ed Spirit; and in conceived forms, when every man is left to his liberty, then the Spirit is free, unlimited and un|con&s;tra ned.</P>
<P><MILESTONE N="44" UNIT="Numb."> I an&s;wer, either their conceived formes (I u&s;e their own words,
<PB N="20" REF="12">though indeed the expre&s;&s;ion is very inartificiall) are premeditate and de&s;cribed, or they are <HI>ex tempore.</HI> If they be premeditate and de&s;cribed, then the Spirit is as much limited in their conceived forms as in the Churches conceived forms. For as to this particu|lar, it is all one who de&s;cribes and limits the form, whether the Church, or a &s;ingle man does it, &s;till the Spirit is in con&s;traint and limit. So that in this ca&s;e they are not angry at &s;et forms of Prayer, but that they do not make them. And if it be replyed, that if a &s;in|gle per&s;on compo&s;es a &s;et form, he may alter it if he plea&s;e, and &s;o his &s;pirit is at liberty. I an&s;wer, &s;o may the Church, if &s;he &s;ee cau&s;e for it: and unle&s;&s;e there be cau&s;e, the &s;ingle per&s;on will not alter it, unle&s;&s;e he do things unrea&s;onable, and without cau&s;e. So that it will be an unequall and a peevi&s;h quarrell to allow of &s;er forms of prayer made by private per&s;ons, and not of &s;et forms made by the publick &s;pirit of the Church. It is evident, that the Spirit is li|mited in both alike.</P>
<P><MILESTONE N="45" UNIT="Numb."> But if by <HI>[Conceived forms]</HI> in this objection they meane <HI>ex tempore</HI> prayers (for &s;o they mo&s;t generally practice it) and that in the u&s;e of the&s;e the liberty of the &s;pirit is be&s;t pre&s;erved. To this I an&s;wer, that the being <HI>ex tempore</HI> or premeditate will be wholly impertinent to this Que&s;tion of limiting the &s;pirit. For there may be great liberty in &s;et forms, even when there is much variety; and there may be great re&s;traint in <HI>ex tempore</HI> prayers, even then when it &s;hall be called unlawfull to u&s;e &s;et forms. That the &s;pirit is re&s;trained, or that it is free in either, is acci|dentall to them both; for it may be either free or not free in both as it may happen.</P>
<P><MILESTONE N="46" UNIT="Numb."> But the re&s;traint is this, that every one is not left to his liber|ty to pray how he li&s;t, (with premeditation or without, it makes not much matter) but that he is pre&s;cribed unto by the &s;pirit of another. But if it be a fault thus to re&s;traine the &s;pirit, I would faine know, is not the &s;pirit re&s;trained when the whole Con|gregation &s;hall be confined to the form of this one mans com|po&s;ing? or it &s;hall be unlawfull, or at lea&s;t a di&s;grace and di&s;pa|ragement to u&s;e any &s;et forms, e&s;pecially of the Churches compo|&s;ition. More plainly thus.</P>
<P N="2"><MILESTONE N="47" UNIT="Numb."> 2. Doth not the Mini&s;ter confine and re&s;traine the &s;pirit of the Lords People, when they are tyed to his form? It would
<PB N="21" REF="12">&s;ound of more liberty to their &s;pirits, that every one might make a prayer of his own, and all pray together; and not be forced or confined to the Mini&s;ters &s;ingle dictate, and private &s;pirit. It is true, it would breed confu&s;ions, and therefore they might pray &s;ilently till the Sermon began, and not for the avoiding one in|convenience runne into a greater, and to avoid the di&s;order of a popular noy&s;e re&s;traine the ble&s;&s;ed Spirit; for even in this ca&s;e as well as in the other, <HI>Where the &s;pirit of God is, there must be liberty.</HI></P>
<P N="3"><MILESTONE N="48" UNIT="Numb."> 3. If the &s;pirit mu&s;t be at liberty, who &s;hall a&s;&s;ure us this li|berty mu&s;t be in forms of prayer? And if &s;o, whether al&s;o it mu&s;t be in publike prayer, and will it not &s;uffice that it be in private? And if in publike prayers, is not the liberty of the &s;pi|rit &s;ufficiently pre&s;erved in that the publike &s;pirit is free? That is, the Church hath power upon occa&s;ion to alter and encrea&s;e her Litanyes. By what Argument &s;hall any man make it &s;o much as probable, that the holy Gho&s;t is injured, if every private Mini&s;ters private &s;pirit &s;hall be guided (and therefore by ne|ce&s;&s;ary con&s;equence limited) by the Authority of the Churches publick &s;pirit?</P>
<P N="4"><MILESTONE N="49" UNIT="Numb."> 4. Does not the Directory that thing which is here called re|&s;training of the &s;pirit? Does it not appoint every thing but the words? And after this is it not a goodly <HI>Palladium</HI> that is con|tended for, and a princely liberty that they leave unto the Spi|rit, to be free only in the &s;upplying the place of a Vocabulary and a <HI>Copia Verborum?</HI> For as for the matter, it is all there de&s;cribed and appointed, and to tho&s;e determined &s;en&s;es the &s;pirit mu&s;t a&s;&s;i&s;t or not at all, only for the words he &s;hall take his choyce. Now I de&s;ire it may be con&s;idered &s;adly and &s;eriou&s;ly: Is it not as much injury to the &s;pirit to re&s;traine his matter, as to appoint his words? Which is the more con&s;iderable of the two, &s;en&s;e or Language, Matter or Words? I meane when they are taken &s;ingle and &s;eparately. For &s;o they may very well be (for as if men pre&s;cribe the matter only, the &s;pirit may cover it with &s;everall words and expre&s;&s;ions, &s;o if the &s;pirit pre&s;cribe the words, I may &s;till abound in variety of &s;en&s;e, and pre&s;erve the liberty of my meaning; we &s;ee that true in the various in|terpretations of the &s;ame words of Scripture.) So that in the
<PB N="22" REF="13">greater of the two, the Spirit is re&s;trained, when his matter is appointed, and to make him amends, for not tru&s;ting him with the matter without our directions and limitations, we tru&s;t him to &s;ay what he plea&s;es, &s;o it be to our &s;en&s;e, to our purpo&s;es. A goodly compen&s;ation &s;urely!</P>
<P N="5"><MILESTONE N="50" UNIT="Numb."> 5. Did not Chri&s;t re&s;train the &s;pirit of his Apo&s;tles, when he taught them to pray the Lords Prayer, whether his precept to his Di&s;ciples concerning it, was <HI>Pray this,</HI> or <HI>Pray thus, Pray the&s;e words,</HI> or <HI>pray after this manner?</HI> or though it had been le&s;&s;e then either, and been only a Directory for the matter, &s;till it is a thing which our Brethren in all other ca&s;es of the &s;ame nature are re&s;olved perpetually to call a re&s;traint. Certainly then this pretended re&s;traint, is no &s;uch formidable thing. The&s;e men them&s;elves doe it by directing all the matter, and much of the manner, and Chri&s;t him&s;elfe did it, by pre&s;cribing both the matter, and the words too.</P>
<P N="6"><MILESTONE N="51" UNIT="Numb."> 6. The&s;e re&s;traints (as they are called) or determinations of the Spirit are made by the Spirit him&s;elfe. For I demand, when any A&s;&s;embly of Divines appointed the matter of Prayers to all particular Mini&s;ters as this hath done, is that appointment by the Spirit or no? If no, then for ought appears, this Directory not be|ing made by Gods Spirit, may be an enemy to it. But if this ap|pointment be by the Spirit, then the determination and limitation of the Spirit, is by the Spirit him&s;elf, and &s;uch indeed is every pious and prudent con&s;titution of the Church in matters &s;pirituall: Such as was that of S. <HI>Paul</HI> to the <HI>Corinthians,</HI> when he pre&s;cribed orders for publicke prophecying, and interpretation, and &s;peaking with tongues. The &s;pirit of &s;ome he &s;o re&s;trained, that he bound them to hold their peace, he permitted but two or three to &s;peak at one meeting, the re&s;t were to keep &s;ilence, though po&s;&s;ibly fix or &s;even might at that time have the Spirit.</P>
<P N="7"><MILESTONE N="52" UNIT="Numb."> 7. Is it not a re&s;traint of the Spirit to &s;ing a P&s;alm in meeter by appointment? Cleerely as much as appointing formes of prayer or Euchari&s;t. And yet that we &s;ee done daily, and no &s;cruple made. Is not this to be partiall in judgement, and in|con&s;iderate of what wee doe?</P>
<P N="8"><MILESTONE N="53" UNIT="Numb."> 8. And now after all this &s;trife, what harm is there in re&s;trai|ning the &s;pirit in the pre&s;ent &s;en&s;e? What prohibition, what law,
<PB N="23" REF="13">what rea&s;on or revelation is again&s;t it? What inconvenience in the nature of the thing? For can any man be &s;o weak as to imagine a de&s;pite is done to the &s;pirit of grace, when tho&s;e gifts to his Church are u&s;ed regularly and by order? As if prudence were no gift of Gods &s;pirit, as if helps in Government, and the ordering &s;pirituall matters were none of tho&s;e graces which Chri&s;t when he a&s;cended up on high gave unto Men. But this whole matter is wholly a &s;tranger to rea&s;on, and never &s;een in Scripture.</P>
<P><MILESTONE N="54" UNIT="Numb."> For Divinity never knew any other vitious re&s;training of the Spirit, but either &s;uppre&s;&s;ing tho&s;e holy incitements to virtue and good life, which Gods Spirit mini&s;ters to us externally or inter|nally, or el&s;e a forbidding by publick Authority the Mini&s;ters of the Word and Sacraments, to &s;peak &s;uch truths as God hath commended, and &s;o taking away the liberty of Prophecying. The fir&s;t is directly vitious <HI>In materia &s;peciale,</HI> the &s;econd is tyranni|call and Antichri&s;tian. And to it per&s;ecution of true Religion is to be reduced. But as for this pretended limiting or re&s;training the &s;pirit, <HI>viz.</HI> by appointing a regular form of prayer, it is &s;o very a Chimera, that it hath no footing or foundation upon any ground where a wi&s;e man may build his confidence.</P>
<P N="9"><MILESTONE N="55" UNIT="Numb."> 9. But la&s;tly, how if the &s;pirit mu&s;t be re&s;trained, and that by precept Apo&s;tolicall? That calls us to a new account. But if it be not true, what meanes S. <HI>Paul,</HI> by &s;aying <HI>The &s;pirits of the Prophets mu&s;t be &s;ubject to the Prophets?</HI> What greater re&s;traint then &s;ubjection? If &s;ubjected, then they mu&s;t be ruled; if ruled, then limited, pre&s;cribed unto, and as much under re&s;traint as the &s;pirits of the &s;uperiour Prophets &s;hall judge convenient. I &s;uppo&s;e by this time this objection will trouble us no more. But perhaps another will.</P>
<P><MILESTONE N="56" UNIT="Numb."> For why are not the Mini&s;ters to be left as well to their li|berty in making their Prayers as their Sermons? I an&s;wer, the Church may if &s;he will, but whether &s;he doth well or no, let her con&s;ider. This I am &s;ure, there is not the &s;ame rea&s;on, and I fear the experience the world hath already had of it, will make de|mon&s;tration enough of the inconvenience. But however the diffe|rences are many.</P>
<P N="1"><MILESTONE N="57" UNIT="Numb."> 1. Our prayers offered up by the Mini&s;ter, are in behalfe and
<PB N="24" REF="14">in the name of the people, and therefore great rea&s;on they &s;hould know before-hand, what is to be pre&s;ented, that if they like not the me&s;&s;age, they may refu&s;e to communicate; e&s;peci|ally &s;ince people are &s;o divided in their opinions, in their hopes, and in their faiths: it being a duty to refu&s;e Communion with tho&s;e prayers which they think to have in them the matter of &s;in or doubting. Which rea&s;on on the other part cea&s;es, for the Mini|&s;ter being to &s;peak from God to the people, if he &s;peaks what he ought not, God can right him&s;elfe, however is not partner of the finne, as in the other ca&s;e, the people po&s;&s;ibly may be.</P>
<P N="2"><MILESTONE N="58" UNIT="Numb."> 2. It is more fit a liberty be left in preaching then praying, becau&s;e the addre&s;&s;e of our di&s;cour&s;es and exhortations are to be made according to the under&s;tanding and capacity of the audience, their prejudices are to be removed, all advantages to be taken, and they are to be &s;urprized that way they lie mo&s;t open [<HI>But being crafty I caught you,</HI> &s;aith Saint <HI>Paul</HI> to the <HI>Corinthians</HI>] and di&s;cour&s;es and arguments <HI>ad hominem,</HI> upon their particular principles and practices may more move them then the mo&s;t polite and accurate that doe not comply and wind about their fancies and affections. S. <HI>Paul</HI> from the ab&s;urd practice of being baptized for the dead, made an excellent Argument to con|vince the <HI>Corinthians</HI> of the Re&s;urrection. But this rea&s;on al&s;o cea&s;es in our prayers. For God under&s;tandeth what we &s;ay &s;ure enough, he hath no prejudices to be removed, no infirmities to be wrought upon, and a fine figure of Rhetorick, a plea&s;ant cadence, and a curious expre&s;&s;ion, move not him at all; no other twinings and complyances &s;tirre him but charity, and humility, and zeale, and importunity, which all are things internall and &s;pirituall. And therefore of nece&s;&s;ity there is to be great varie|ty of di&s;cour&s;es to the people, and permi&s;&s;ions accordingly, but not &s;o to God, with whom a <HI>Deus mi&s;erere</HI> prevailes as &s;oon as the great office of 40 houres not long &s;ince invented in the Church of <HI>Rome,</HI> or any other prayers &s;pun out to a length be|yond the exten&s;ion of the office of a Phari&s;ee.</P>
<P N="3"><MILESTONE N="59" UNIT="Numb."> 3. I feare it cannot &s;tand with our reverence to God, to per|mit to every &s;pirit a liberty of publike addre&s;&s;e to him in behalfe of the people. Indeed he that is not fit to pray, is not alwayes fit to preach; but it is more &s;afe to be bold with the people then
<PB N="25" REF="14">with God, if the per&s;ons be not &s;o fit. In that there may be in|di&s;cretion, but there may be impiety and irreligion in this. The people may better excu&s;e and pardon an indi&s;cretion or a rude|ne&s;&s;e (if any &s;uch &s;hould happen) then we may venture to offer it to God.</P>
<P N="4"><MILESTONE N="60" UNIT="Numb."> 4. There is a latitude of Theology, much whereof is left to us, &s;o, without preci&s;e and clear determination, that without breach either of faith or charity, men may differ in opinion: and if they may not be permitted to abound in their own &s;en&s;e, they will be apt to complaine of tyrannie over con&s;ciences, and that men Lord it over their faith. In Prayer this thing is &s;o diffe|rent, that it is imprudent and full of inconvenience to derive &s;uch things into our prayers, which may with good profit be mat|ter of Sermons. Therefore here a liberty may well enough be granted, when there it may better be denyed.</P>
<P N="5"><MILESTONE N="61" UNIT="Numb."> 5. But indeed, if I may freely declare my opinion, I think it were not ami&s;&s;e if the liberty of making Sermons were &s;omething more re&s;trained then it is, and that either &s;uch per&s;ons only were intru&s;ted with liberty for whom the Church her &s;elfe may &s;afely bee re&s;pon&s;all, that is, to men learned and pious, and that the other part, the <HI>Vulgus Cleri,</HI> &s;hould in&s;truct the people out of the fountaines of the Church, and up|on the publick &s;tock, till by &s;o long exerci&s;e and di&s;cipline in the Schooles of the Prophets, they may al&s;o be intru&s;ted to mini&s;ter of their own unto the people. This I am &s;ure was the practice of the Primitive Church when Preaching was as ably and reli|giou&s;ly performed as now it is. But in this I pre&s;cribe nothing. But truly I think the reverend Divines of the A&s;&s;embly are many of my mind in this particular, and that they ob&s;erve a liberty indulged to &s;ome per&s;ons to preach, which I think they had rather &s;hould hold their peace, and yet think the Church better edified in your &s;ilence then their Sermons.</P>
<P N="6"><MILESTONE N="62" UNIT="Numb."> 6. But yet me thinks the Argument objected, if it were turned with the edge the other way, would have more rea&s;on in it: and in&s;tead of arguing <HI>[Why &s;hould not the &s;ame be allow|ed in praying as in preaching]</HI> it were better to &s;ub&s;titute this. If they can pray with the &s;pirit, why al&s;o doe they not preach with the &s;pirit? and if praying with the &s;pirit be praying <HI>ex
<PB N="26" REF="15">tempore,</HI> why &s;hall they not preach <HI>ex tempore</HI> too, or el&s;e con|fe&s;&s;e that they preach without the &s;pirit, or that they have not the gift of Preaching? For to &s;ay that the gift of prayer, is a gift <HI>ex tempore,</HI> but the gift of Preaching is with &s;tudy and deliberation, is to become vaine and impertinent. <HI>Quis enim di&s;crevit?</HI> Who hath made them of a different con&s;ideration? I mean as to this particular, as to their efficient cau&s;e. Nor rea|&s;on, nor revelation, nor God, nor man.</P>
<P><MILESTONE N="63" UNIT="Numb."> To &s;umme up all. If any man hath a mind to exerci&s;e his gift of Prayer, let him &s;et him&s;elf to work, and compo&s;e Books of Devotion, (we have great need of them in the Church of <HI>England,</HI> &s;o apparent need, that the Papi&s;ts have made it an objection again&s;t us) and this his gift of Prayer will bee to edification. But otherwi&s;e, I under&s;tand it is more fit for o&s;ten|tation, then any &s;pirituall advantage. For God hears us not the &s;ooner for our <HI>ex tempore,</HI> long, or conceived prayers; po&s;&s;ibly they may become a hindrance, as in the ca&s;es before in&s;tanced. And I am &s;ure if the people be intelligent, and can di&s;cern, they are hindred in their Devotion, for they dare not &s;ay <HI>Amen</HI> till they have con&s;idered; and many &s;uch ca&s;es will occurre in <HI>ex tempore</HI> prayers, that need much con&s;idering before we atte&s;t them. But if the people bee not intelligent, they are apt to &s;wallow all the inconveniencies which may multiply in &s;o great a licence; and therefore it were well that the Governours of the Church who are to an&s;wer for their &s;oules, &s;hould judge for them, before they &s;ay <HI>Amen,</HI> which judgement cannot bee without &s;et-forms of Liturgy. My &s;entence therefore is, <GAP DESC="foreign">, Let us be as we are already. Few changes are for the better.</P>
<P><MILESTONE N="64" UNIT="Numb."> For if it be pretended, that in the Liturgy of the Church of <HI>England,</HI> which was compo&s;ed with much art and judgement by a Church that hath as much rea&s;on to be confident &s;he hath the Spirit and gifts of Prayer, as any &s;ingle per&s;on hath, and each learned man that was at its fir&s;t compo&s;ition, can as much prove that he had the Spirit, as the objectors now adayes: (and he that boa&s;ts mo&s;t, certainly hath the lea&s;t.) If I &s;ay it be pre|tended, there are many errours and inconveniences both in the order and the matter of the Common-Prayer Book, made by
<PB N="27" REF="15">&s;uch men, with &s;o much indu&s;try: How much more, and with how much greater rea&s;on may we all dread the inconveniencies and di&s;orders of <HI>ex tempore</HI> prayers? where there is neither con|junction of heads, nor premeditation, nor indu&s;try, nor me|thod, nor art, nor any of tho&s;e things (or at lea&s;t not in the &s;ame degree) which were likely to have exempted the Com|mon-Prayer Book from errours and di&s;orders. If the&s;e things be in the green tree, what will be done in the dry?</P>
<P><MILESTONE N="65" UNIT="Numb."> But if it be &s;aid, the <HI>ex tempore</HI> and conceived prayers will be &s;ecured from errour by the Directory, becau&s;e that chalks them out the matter. I an&s;wer, it is not &s;ufficient, becau&s;e if when men &s;tudy both the matter and the words too, they may be (and it is pretended are actually) erroneous; much more may they when the matter is le&s;t much more at liberty, and the words under no re&s;traint at all. And no man can avoid the pre&s;&s;ure and the weight of this, unle&s;&s;e the Compilers of the Directory were infallible, and that all their followers were &s;o too, of the certainty of which I am not yet &s;ully &s;atisfied.</P>
<P><MILESTONE N="66" UNIT="Numb."> And after all this I would fain know, what benefit and ad|vantages &s;hall the Church of <HI>England</HI> in her united capacity, and every particular in the diffu&s;ed capacity receive by this new device? For the publike it is cleare, that whether the Mini&s;ters pray before they &s;tudy; or &s;tudy before they pray, there mu&s;t needs be infinite deformity in the publike wor&s;hip, and all the benefits which were before the con&s;equents of conformity and unity, will be loft, and if they be not valuable, I leave it to all them to con&s;ider, who know the inconveniences of publike di&s;|union, and the publike di&s;union that is certainly con&s;equent to them who doe not communicate in any common formes of wor&s;hip. And to think that the Directory will bring conformi|ty, is as if one &s;hould &s;ay, that all who are under the &s;ame He|mi&s;phere are joyned <HI>in communi patri&aacute;,</HI> and will love like Coun|trymen; for under the Directory there will be as different Re|ligions, and as different de&s;ires, and as differing formes as there are &s;everall varieties of men and manners under the one halfe of heaven, who yet breath under the &s;ame halfe of the Globe. But I ask again what benefit can the publike receive by this forme, or this no form, for I know not whether to call it. Shall the
<PB N="28" REF="16">matter of prayers be better in all Churches? &s;hall God be bet|ter &s;erved? &s;hall the word of God and the be&s;t patterns of prayers be alwayes exactly followed? It is well if it be. But there is &s;ecurity given us by the Directory; for the matter is left at every mans di&s;po&s;e for all that, and we mu&s;t depend up|on the hone&s;ty of every particular for it; and if any man proves a Heretick, or a Knave, then he may introduce what impiety he plea&s;e, into the publick formes of Gods wor&s;hip; and there is no law made to prevent it, and it mu&s;t be cured afterwards if it can; but before-hand it is not prevented at all by the Di|rectory, which tru&s;ts every man. But I ob&s;erve, that all the benefit which is pretended, is, that it will make an able Mini&s;tery, which I confe&s;&s;e I am very much from believing, and &s;o will every man be that con&s;iders what kind of men they are that have been mo&s;t zealous for that way of conceived prayer. I am &s;ure that very few of the learned&s;t, very many ignorants, mo&s;t tho&s;e who have made lea&s;t abode in the Schools of the Pro|phets. And that I may di&s;grace no mans per&s;on, we &s;ee Trade&s;|men of the mo&s;t illiberall arts, and women pretend to it, and doe it with as many words (and that's the maine thing) with as much confidence, and &s;peciou&s;ne&s;&s;e, and &s;pirit, as the be&s;t among them. And it is but a &s;mall portion of learning that will &s;erve a man to make conceived formes of prayer, which they have ea&s;ily upon the &s;tock of other men, or upon their own fancie, or upon any thing in which no learning is required. He that knowes nothing of the craft may be in the Preachers trade. But what? Is God better &s;erved? I would faine &s;ee any Authority, or any rea&s;on, or any probability for that. I am &s;ure ignorant men offer him none of the be&s;t &s;acrifices <HI>ex tempore,</HI> and learned men will be &s;ure to deliberate, and know. God is then better &s;erved, when he &s;erved by a publike, then when by a private &s;pirit. I cannot imagine what accruements will hence come to the publike: it may be &s;ome advantages may be to the private intere&s;ts of men. For there are a &s;ort of men whom out ble&s;&s;ed Saviour noted, who do <HI>devoure widowes hou&s;es, and for a pre|tenc<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="UOM" EXTENT="1 letter"> make long prayers.</HI> They make prayers, and they make them long, by this meanes they receive double advantages, for they get reputation to their ability, and to their piety. And
<PB N="29" REF="16">although the Common-prayer Book in the Preface to the Di|rectory bee charged with unnece&s;&s;ary length, yet we &s;ee that mo&s;t of the&s;e men, they that are mo&s;t eminent or would be &s;o, make their prayers longer, and will not lo&s;e the benefits which their credit gets, and they by their credit, for making their prayers.</P>
<P>Adde to this that there is no promi&s;e in Scripture, that he who prayes <HI>ex tempore</HI> &s;hall be heard the better, or that he &s;hall bee a&s;&s;i&s;ted at all to &s;uch purpo&s;es; and therefore to innovate in &s;o high a matter without a warrant to command us, or a promi&s;e to warrant us, is no better then vanity in the thing, and pre|&s;umption in the per&s;on. He therefore that con&s;iders that this way of prayer is without all manner of precedent in the Primi|tive Church, again&s;t the example of all famous Churches in all Chri&s;tendome in the whole de&s;cent of 15. Ages, without all command and warrant of Scripture, that it is unrea&s;onable in the nature of the thing, again&s;t prudence and the be&s;t wi&s;edome of humanity, becau&s;e it is without deliberation, that it is inno|vation in a high degree without that Authority which is truly and by inherent and ancient right to command and pre&s;cribe to us in externall forms of wor&s;hip, that it is much to the di&s;|grace of the fir&s;t reformers of our Religion, that it gives en|couragement to the Papi&s;ts, to quarrell with &s;ome rea&s;on and more pretence again&s;t our Reformation, as being by the Di|rectory confe&s;&s;ed to have been done in much blindne&s;&s;e, and therefore might erre in the exce&s;&s;e as well as in the defect, in the throwing out too much, as ca&s;ting off too little, which is the more likely, becau&s;e they wanted zeale to carry it farre enough. He that confiders the univer&s;all deformity of pub|like wor&s;hip, and the no meanes of union, no Symbol of pub|like communion being publikely con&s;igned, that all Here&s;ies may with the &s;ame Authority bee brought into our prayers, and offered to God in behalfe of the people, with the &s;ame Authori|ty that any truth may, all the matter of our prayers being left to the choyce of all men, of all per&s;wa&s;ions, and then ob|&s;erves that actually there are in many places, here&s;ie, and bla|&s;phemy, and impertinency, and illiterate rudene&s;&s;es put into the devotions of the mo&s;t Solemne dayes, and the mo&s;t publike
<PB N="30" REF="17">meetings; and then la&s;tly, that there are divers parts of Ly|turgy, for which no provi&s;ions at all is made in the Directory, and the very admini&s;tration of the Sacraments left &s;o loo&s;ely, that if there be any thing e&s;&s;entiall in the forms of Sacraments, the Sacrament may come ineffectuall by want of due words, and due mini&s;tration. I &s;ay, he that con&s;iders all the&s;e things (and many more he may con&s;ider) will finde that particular men are not fit to be intru&s;ted to offer in publike with their private &s;pirit, to God, for the people, in &s;uch &s;olemnities, in matters of &s;o great concernment, where the honour of God, the benefit of the people, the intere&s;t of Kingdomes, the being of a Church, the unity of minds, the conformity of practice, the truth of per|&s;wa&s;ions, and the &s;alvation of &s;oules, are &s;o very much concer|ned, as they are in the publike prayers of a whole Nationall Church. An unlearned man is not to be tru&s;ted, and a wi&s;e man dare not tru&s;t him&s;elfe; hee that is ignorant cannot, he that is know|ing will not.</P>
<TRAILER>The End.</TRAILER>
</DIV1>
</BODY>
</TEXT>
</EEBO>
</ETS>
