canendis haberi Domini Apostolorum documenta utilia praecepta And the Church obeyed them for as an Ancient Author under the name of Dionysius Areopagita relates the chief of the Clericall and Ministring Order offer bread upon the Altar Cum Ecclesiastici omnes laudem hymnumque generalem Deo tribuerint cum quibus Pontifex sacras preces ritè perficit c. They all sing one Hymne to God and then the Bishop prayes ritè according to the rituall or constitution which in no sense of the Church or of Grammar can be understood without a solemne and determin'd forme {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} sayes Casaubon is cantare idem saepiùs dicere apud Graecos {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} they were formes of praising God used constantly periodically and in the daily Offices And the Fathers of the Councell of Antioch complaine against Paulus Samosatenus Quod Psalmos cantus qui ad Domini nostri Jesu Christi honorem decantari solent tanquam recentiores à viris recentioris memoriae editos exploserit The quarrell was that he said the Church had used to say Hymnes which were made by new men and not deriv'd from the Ancients which if we consider that the Councell of Antioch was in the 12 year of Gallienus the Emperour 133 years after Christs Ascension will fairly prove that the use of prescrib'd Formes of Prayer Hymnes and formes of Worshipping were very early in the Church and it is unimaginable it should be otherwise when we remember the Apostolicall precept before mentioned And if we fancy a higher precedent than what was manifested upon earth we may please to see one observ'd to have been made in Heaven for a set forme of Worship and addresse to God was recorded by Saint John and sung in Heaven and it was composed out of the Songs of Moses Exod. 15. of David Psal. 145. and of Jeremy Chapt. 10. 6 7. which certainly is a very good precedent for us to imitate although but revealed to Saint John by way of vision and extasie that we may see if we would speak with the tongue of Men and Angels we could not praise God in better Formes then what are recorded in holy Scripture But besides the metricall part the Apostle hath described sect. 90 other parts of Lyturgie in Scripture whose composition though it be in determined forme of words yet not so bound up with numbers as Hymnes and these Saint Paul calls supplications prayers intercessions and giving of thanks which are severall manners of addresse distinguish'd by their subject matter by their forme and manner of addresse As appears plainly by intercessions and giving of thanks the other are also by all men distinguish'd though in the particular assignment they differ but the distinction of the Words implies the distinction of Offices which together with the {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} the Lectionarium of the Church the Books of the Apostles and Prophets spoken of by Justin Martyr and said to be used in the Christian Congregations are the constituent parts of Liturgy and the exposition of the words we best learn from the practise of the Church who in all Ages of whose publike offices any record is left to us tooke their pattern from these places of Scripture the one for Prose the other for Verse and if we take Liturgy into its severall parts or members we cannot want something to apply to every one of the words of Saint Paul in these present allegations For the offices of prose we find but small mention of sect. 91 them in the very first time save onely in generall termes and that such there were and that S. James S. Marke Saint Peter and others of the Apostles and Apostolicall men made Liturgies and if these which we have at this day were not theirs yet they make probation that these Apostles left others or else they were impudent people that prefixed their names so early and the Churches were very incurious to swallow such a bole if no pretension could have been reasonably made for their justification But concerning Church Hymnes we have clearer testimony in particular both because they were many of them and because they were dispersed more soone got by heart passed also among the people and were pious arts of the Spirit whereby holy things were instilled into their Soules by the help of phansie and a more easie memory The first civilizing of people used to be by Poetry and their Divinity was conveyed by Songs and Verses and the Apostle exhorted the Christians to exhort one another in Psalmes and Hymnes for he knew the excellent advantages were likely to accrue to Religion by such an insinuation of the mysteries Thus Saint Hilary and Saint Ambrose composed Hymnes for the use of the Church and Saint Austin made a Hymne against the Schisme of Donatus which Hymnes when they were publikely allowed of were used in publike Offices not till then For Paulus Samosatenus had brought Women into the Church to sing vaine and trifling Songs and some Bishops took to themselves too great and incurious a license and brought Hymnes into the Church whose gravity and piety was not very remarkeable upon occasion of which the Fathers of the Councell of Laodicea ordained {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} No Psalmes of private composition must be brought into the Church so Gentian Hervet renders it Isidore Translates it Psalmos ab Idiotis compositos Psalmes made by common persons Psalms usually sung abroad so Dionysius Exiguus calls them Psalmos Plebeios but I suppose by the following words is meant That none but Scripture Psalmes shall be read there for so the Canon adds {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} nothing to be read in the Church but Books of the Old and New Testament And this Interpretation agrees well enough with the occasion of the Canon which I now mentioned This onely by the way the reddition of {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} sect. 92 by Isidore to be Psalmes made by common persons whom the Scripture calls {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} ignorant or unlearned is agreeable enough with that of Saint Paul who intimates that Prayers and formes of Lyturgies are to be composed for them not by them they were never thought of to be persons competent to make Formes of Prayers themselves For Saint Paul speakes of such a one as of a person comming into the Church to hear the Prophets pray and sing and interpret and prophecy and {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} he is reproved of all and judged of all and therefore the most unfit person in the world to bring any thing that requires great ability and great authority to obtrude it upon the Church his Rulers and his Judges And this was not unhandsomely intimated by the word sometimes used by the {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} of
by reason of that collaterall assistance For so Saint Paul joynes them as termes identicall and expressive one of anothers meaning as you may please to read ver. 14 15. 1 Cor. 14. I will pray with the Spirit and my spirit truly prayeth It is the act of our inner man praying holy and spirituall prayers But then indeed at that time there was something extraordinary adjoyned for it was in an unknown Tongue the practise of which Saint Paul there dislikes This also will be to none of their purposes For whether it were ex tempore or by premeditation is not here expressed or if it had yet that assistance extraordinary in prayer if there was any beside the gift of Tongues which is not here or anywhere else expressed is no more transmitted to us then the speaking tongues in the Spirit or prophecying ex tempore and by the Spirit But I would adde also one experiment which S. Paul sect. 46 also there adds by way of instance If praying with the spirit in this place be praying ex tempore then so is singing too For they are expressed in the same place in the same manner to the same end and I know no reason why there should be differing senses put upon them to serve purposes And now let us have some Church Musique too though the Organs be pull'd down and let any the best Psalmist of them all compose a Hymn in Metricall form as Antipater Sidonius in Quintilian Licinius Archias in Cicero could doe in their Verses and sing it to a new tune with perfect and true musick and all this ex tempore For all this the Holy Ghost can doe if he pleases But if it be said that the Corinthian Christians composed their Songs and Hymnes according to art and rules of Musick by study and industry and that to this they were assisted by the Spirit and that this together with the devotion of their spirit was singing with the Spirit then say I so composing set formes of Liturgy by skill and prudence and humane industry may be as much praying with the Spirit as the other is singing with the Spirit Plainly enough In all the senses of praying with the Spirit and in all it 's acceptations in Scripture to pray or sing with the spirit neither of them of necessity implies ex tempore The summe or Collecta of the premises is this Praying sect. 47 with the spirit is either 1 when the Spirit stirres up our desires to pray per motionem actualis auxilii or 2 when the spirit teaches us what or how to pray telling us the matter and manner of our prayers 3 Or lastly dictating the very words of our prayers There is no other way in the world to pray with the Spirit or in the Holy Ghost that is pertinent to this Question And of this last manner the Scripture determines nothing nor speaks any thing expresly of it and yet suppose it had we are certain the Holy Ghost hath supplied us with all these and yet in set formes of Prayer best of all I mean there where a difference can be For 1 as for the desires and actuall motions or incitements to pray they are indifferent to one or the other to set formes or to ex tempore 2. But as to the matter or manner of prayer it is clearly sect. 48 contained in the expresses and set formes of Scriptures and there it is supplied to us by the Spirit for he is the great Dictatour of it 3. Now then for the very words No man can assure sect. 49 me that the words of his ex tempore prayer are the words of the holy Spirit it is not reason nor modesty to expect such immediate assistances to so little purpose he having supplied us with abilities more then enough to expresse our desires aliundè otherwise then by immediate dictate But if we will take David's Psalter or the other Hymnes of holy Scripture or any of the Prayers which are respersed over the Bible we are sure enough that they are the words of Gods spirit mediately or immediately by way of infusion or extasie by vision or at least by ordinary assistance And now then what greater confidence can any man have for the excellency of his prayers and the probability of their being accepted then when he prayes his Psalter or the Lords Prayer or any other office which he finds consigned in Scripture When Gods spirit stirres us up to an actuall devotion and then we use the matter he hath described and taught and the very words which Christ Christs spirit and the Apostles and other persons full of the Holy Ghost did use If in the world there be any praying with the Spirit I meane in vocall prayer this is it And thus I have examined the intire and full scope of sect. 50 this First Question and rifled their Objection which was the onely colour to hide the appearance of its naturall deformity at the first sight The result is this Scribendum ergo quoties licebit Si id non dabitur cogitandum ab utroque exclusi debent tamen adniti ut neque deprehensus orator neque destitutus esse videatur In making our Orations and publike advocations we must write what we meane to speake as often as we can when we cannot yet we must deliberate and study and when the suddennesse of the accident prevents both these we must use all the powers of art and care that we have a present mind and call in all our first provisions that we be not destitute of matter and words apt for the imployment This was Quintilian's rule for the matter of prudence and in secular occasions but when the instance is in Religion and especially in our prayers it will concern us nearer to be curious and deliberate what we speak in the audience of the eternal God when our lives and our soules and the honour of God and the reputation of Religion are concern'd and whatsoever is greatest in it self or dearest to us THe second Question hath in it something more sect. 51 of difficulty for the Men that owne it will give leave that set formes may be used so you give leave to them to make them but if authority shall interpose and prescribe a Liturgy every word shal breed a quarrell and if the matter be innocent yet the very injunction is tyranny a restraining of the gifts of the Holy Ghost it leaves the spirit of a Man sterile and unprofitable it is not for edification of the Church and is as destitute of comfort as it is of profit For God hath not restrain'd his Spirit to those few that rule the Church in prelation above others but if he hath given to them the spirit of government he hath given to others the spirit of prayer and the spirit of Prophesie Now the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withall for to one is given by the Spirit the word of wisdome
formes according as she judges best for edification 2. When the Apostles upon occasion of the Forme sect. 76 which the Baptist taught his Disciples begg'd of their Master to teach them one he againe taught them this and added a precept to use these very words {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} when ye pray say our Father when they speak to God it was fit they should speake in his words in whose name also their prayers onely could be acceptable 3. For if we must speak this sense why also are not the sect. 77 very words to be retained Is there any errour or imperfection in the words was not Christ Master of his language and were not his words sufficiently expressive of his sense will not the Prayer do well also in our tongues which as a duty we are oblig'd to deposite in our hearts and preserve in our memories without which it is in all senses uselesse whether it be onely a pattern or a repository of matter 4. And it is observeable that our blessed Saviour doth sect. 78 not say Pray that the name of your heavenly Father may be sanctified or that your sinnes may be forgiven but say Hallowed be thy name c. so that he prescribes this Prayer not in massa materiae but in formâ verborum not in a confused heap of matter but in an exact composure of words it makes it evident he intended it not onely pro regula petendorum for a direction of what things we are to aske but also pro forma orationis for a set form of Prayer Now it is considerable that no man ever had the fulnesse of the Spirit but onely the holy Jesus and therefore it is also certain that no man had the Spirit of prayer like to him and then if we pray this prayer devoutly and with pious and actuall intention doe we not pray in the Spirit of Christ as much as if we prayed any other forme of words pretended to be taught us by the Spirit We are sure that Christ and Christs spirit taught us this Prayer they onely gather by conjectures and opinions that in their ex tempore or conceived formes the Spirit of Christ teacheth them So much then as Certainties are better then Uncertainties and Gods words better than Mans so much is this Set forme besides the infinite advantages in the matter better then their ex tempore and conceived Formes in the forme it selfe And if ever any prayer was or could be a part of that doctrine of faith by which wee received the Spirit it must needs be this prayer which was the onely forme our blessed Master taught the Christian Church immediately was a part of his great and glorious Sermon in the Mount in which all the needs of the world are sealed up as in a treasure house and intimated by severall petitions as diseases are by their proper and proportioned remedies and which Christ published as the first emanation of his Spirit the first perfume of that heavenly anointing which descended on his sacred head when he went down into the waters of Baptisme This we are certain of that there is nothing wanting sect. 79 nothing superfluous and impertinent nothing carnall or imperfect in this prayer but as it supplies all needs so it serves all persons is fitted for all estates it meets with all accidents and no necessity can surprize any man but if God heares him praying that prayer he is provided for in that necessity and yet if a single person paraphrases it it is not certain but the whole sense of a petition may be altered by the intervention of one improper word and there can be no security given against this but qualified and limited and just in such a proportion as we can be assured of the wisdome and honesty of the person and the actuall assistance of the holy Spirit Now then I demand whether the Prayer of Manasses be sect. 80 so good a prayer as the Lords Prayer or is the Prayer of Judith or of Tobias or of Judas Maccabeus or of the Sonne of Sirach is any of these so good Certainly no man will say they are and the reason is because we are not sure they are inspired by the Holy Spirit of God prudent and pious and conformable to Religion they may be but not penn'd by so excellent a spirit as this Prayer And what assurance can be given that any Ministers prayer is better then the prayers of the Sonne of Sirach who was a very wise and a very good man as all the world acknowledges I know not any one of them that has so large a testimony or is of so great reputation But suppose they can make as good prayers yet surely they are Apocryphall at least and for the same reason that the Apocryphall prayers are not so excellent as the Lords prayer by the same reason must the best they can be imagin'd to compose fall short of this excellent pattern by how much they partake of a smaller portion of the Spirit as a drop of water is lesse then all the waters under or above the Firmament Secondly I would also willingly know whether if sect. 81 any man uses the forme which Christ taught supposing he did not tie us to the very prescript words can there be any hurt in it is it imaginable that any Commandement should be broken or any affront done to the honour of God or any act of imprudence or irreligion in it or any negligence of any insinuation of the Divine pleasure I cannot yet think of any thing to frame for answer so much as by way of an Antinomy or Objection But then supposing Christ did tye us to use this Prayer pro loco tempore according to the nature and obligation of all affirmative precepts as it is certaine he did in the preceptive words recorded by S. Luke When ye pray say Our Father then it is to be considered that a Divine Commandment is broken by its rejection and therefore if there were any doubt remaining whether it be a command or no yet since on one side there is danger of a negligence and a contempt and that on the other side the observation conformity cannot be criminall or imprudent it will follow that the retaining of this Prayer in practice and suffering it to doe all its intentions and particularly becomming the great {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} or authority for set formes of Prayer is the safest most prudent most Christian understanding of those words of Christ propounding the Lords Prayer to the Christian Church And because it is impossible that all particulars should be expressed in any forme of prayer because particulars are not onely casuall and accidentall but also infinite Christ according to that wisdome he had without measure fram'd a Prayer which by a general comprehension should include all particulars eminent and vertually so that there should be no defect in it yet so short that the
liberty of the Spirit sufficiently preserved that the publick Spirit is free That is the Church hath power upon occasion to alter and increase her Litanies By what argument shall any man make it so much as probable that the holy Ghost is injured if every private Ministers private spirit shall be guided and therefore by necessary consequence limited by the authority of the Churches publick Spirit 4. Does not the Directory that thing which is here called sect. 121 restraining of the Spirit Does it not appoint every thing but the words And after this is it not a goodly Palladium that is contended for and a princely liberty they leave unto the Spirit to be free onely in the supplying the place of a Vocabulary and a Copia verborum For as for the matter it is all there described and appointed and to those determined senses the Spirit must assist or not at all onely for the words he shall take his choise Now I desire it may be considered sadly and seriously Is it not as much injury to the Spirit to restrain his matter as to appoint his words Which is the more considerable of the two Sense or Language Matter or Words I mean when they are taken singly and separately For so they may very well be for as if men prescribe the matter onely the Spirit may cover it with severall words and expressions so if the Spirit prescribe the words I may still abound in variety of sense and preserve the liberty of my meaning we see that true in the various interpretations of the same words of Scripture So that in the greater of the two the Spirit is restrained when his matter is appointed and to make him amends for not trusting him with the matter without our directions and limitations we trust him to say what he pleases so it be to our sense to our purposes A goodly compensation surely 5. Did not Christ restrain the spirit of his Apostles sect. 122 when he taught them to pray the Lords Prayer whether his precept to his Disciples concerning it was Pray this or Pray thus Pray these words or Pray after this manner Or though it had been lesse then either and been onely a Directory for the matter still it is a thing which our Brethren in all other cases of the same nature are resolved perpetually to call a restraint Certainly then this pretended restraint is no such formidable thing These men themselves doe it by directing all of the matter and much of the manner and Christ himself did it by prescribing both the matter and the words too 6. These restraints as they are called or determinations sect. 123 of the Spirit are made by the Spirit himself For I demand when any Assembly of Divines appoint the matter of Prayers to all particular Ministers as this hath done is that appointment by the Spirit or no If no then for ought appears this Directory not being made by Gods Spirit may be an enemy to it But if this appointment be by the Spirit then the determination and limitation of the Spirit is by the Spirit himself and such indeed is every pious and prudent constitution of the Church in matters Spirituall Such as was that of Saint Paul to the Corinthians when he prescribed orders for publick Prophecying and Interpretation and speaking with Tongues The Spirit of some he so restrained that he bound them to hold their peace he permitted but two or three to speak at one meeting the rest were to keep silence though possibly six or seven might at that time have the Spirit 7. Is it not a restraint of the Spirit to sing a Psalme in sect. 124 Meeter by appointment Cleerly as much as appointing Formes of prayer or Eucharist And yet that we see done daily and no scruple made Is not this to be partiall in judgement and inconsiderate of what we doe 8. And now after all this strife what harme is there sect. 125 in restraining the Spirit in the present sense What prohibition what Law What reason or revelation is against it What inconvenience in the nature of the thing For can any man be so weak as to imagine a despite is done to the Spirit of grace when the gifts given to his Church are used regularly and by order As if prudence were no gift of Gods Spirit as if helps in Government and the ordering spirituall matters were none of those graces which Christ when he ascended up on high gave unto men But this whole matter is wholly a stranger to reason and never seen in Scripture For Divinity never knew any other vitious restraining sect. 126 the Spirit but either suppressing those holy incitements to vertue and good life which Gods Spirit ministers to us externally or internally or else a forbidding by publike authority the Ministers of the Word and Sacraments to speake such truths as God hath commanded and so taking away the liberty of prophecying The first is directly vitious in materia speciali The second is tyrannicall and Antichristian And to it persecution of true Religion is to be reduced But as for this pretended limiting or restraining the Spirit viz. by appointing a regular Forme of prayer it is so very a Chimaera that it hath no footing or foundation upon any ground where a wise man may build his confidence 9. But lastly how if the Spirit must be restrained and sect. 127 that by precept Apostolicall That calls us to a new account But if it be not true what meanes Saint Paul by saying The spirits of the Prophets must be subject to the Prophets What greater restraint then subjection If subjected then they must be ruled if ruled then limited prescribed unto and as much under restraint as the spirits of the superiour Prophets shall judge convenient I suppose by this time this Objection will trouble us no more But perhaps another will For why are not the Ministers to be left as well to sect. 128 their liberty in making their Prayers as their Sermons I answer the Church may if she will but whether she doth well or no let her consider This I am sure there is not the same reason and I feare the experience the world hath already had of it will make demonstration enough of the inconvenience But however the differences are many 1. Our Prayers offered up by the Minister are in behalf sect. 129 and in the name of the People and therefore great reason they should know beforehand what is to be presented that if they like not the message they may refuse to communicate especially since people are so divided in their opinions in their hopes and in their faiths it being a duty to refuse comunion with those prayers which they think to have in them the matter of sin or doubting Which reason on the other part ceases for the Minister being to speak from God to the people if he speaks what he ought not God can right himself however is not a partner of the sin as in
to the Directory be charged with unnecessary length yet we see that most of these men they that are most eminent or would be thought so make their Prayers longer and will not lose the benefits which their credit gets and they by their credit for making their Prayers Adde this that there is no promise in Scripture that sect. 141 he who prayes ex tempore shall be heard the better or that he shall be assisted at all to such purposes and therefore to innovate in so high a matter without a warrant to command us or a Promise to warrant us is no better then vanity in the thing and presumption in the person He therefore that considers that this way of Prayer is without all manner of precedent in the Primitive Church against the example of all famous Churches in all Christendome in the whole descent of XV Ages without all command or warrant of Scripture that it is unreasonable in the nature of the thing against prudence and the best wisdome of humanity because it is without Deliberation that it is innovation in a high degree without that authority which is truly and by inherent and Ancient right to command prescribe to us in external Formes of Worship that it is much to the disgrace of the first Reformers of our Religion that it gives encouragement to the Church of Rome to quarrell with some reason and more pretence against our Reformation as being by the Directory confessed to have been done in much blindnesse and therefore might erre in the excesse as well as in the defect throwing out too much as casting off too little which is the more likely because they wanted No Zeal to carry them far enough He that considers the universall difformity of publick Worship and the no means of Union no Symbol of publick Communion being publickly consigned that all Heresies may with the same authority be brought into our Prayers and offered to God in the behalf of the people with the same authority that any truth may all the particular matter of our Prayers being left to the choice of all men of all perswasions and then observes that actually there are in many places Heresie and Blasphemy and Impertinency and illiterate Rudenesses put into the Devotion of the most solemne Dayes and the most publick Meetings and then lastly that there are diverse parts of Lyturgie for which no provision at all is made in the Directory and the very administration of the Sacraments let so loosely that if there be any thing essentiall in the Formes of Sacraments the Sacrament may become ineffectuall for want of due Words and due Administration I say he that considers all these things and many more he may consider will finde that particular men are not fit to be intrusted to offer in Publike with their private Spirit to God for the people in such Solemnities in matters of so great concernment where the Honour of God the benefit of the People the interest of Kingdomes the being of a Church the unity of Mindes the conformity of Practise the truth of Perswasion and the salvation of Souls are so much concerned as they are in the publick Prayers of a whole nationall Church An unlearned man is not to be trusted and a Wise man dare not trust himselfe he that is ignorant cannot he that is knowing will not FINIS Quest 1. Isocrat in Panathen Eccles. 5. 2. Alex. ab Alex. l. 2. c. 14. Idem l. 4. c. 17. Ibidem In vita Proaeresii Ephes. 4. 12. Ephes. 2. 8. 1 Cor. 12. 9. 2 Cor. 4. 13. Epist. Iud v. 20 1 Tim. 4. 14. 2 Tim. 1. 6. So as that hereby they become not slothfull and negligent in stirring up the gifts of Christ in them But that each one by meditation by taking heed c. may be carefull to furnish his heart and tongue with further or other materials c. Preface to the Directory Rom. 8. 26. * Eph. 5. 18 19. * Col. 3. 16. Vid. Act. 19. 21. 16. 7 8 9 10. Etiam Veteres Prophetae disposuerunt se ad respondendum propheticè Et vaticinia admoto plectro aut hausto calice dederunt Gen. 44. 5. Scyphus quem furati estis ipse est in quo Dominus meus bibit in quo augurari solet Dixit Oeconomus Iosephi Et afferte psalterium Dixit Eliseus 2 Reg. 3. 15. Domiâ—â—on interrogaturus Vid. Erasmi Epist. ad Jo. Eckium Epist. 1. 20. i Cor. 7. a Homil. 16. in Numer b Lib. 5. contr. eunom. c. penult c Lib. 8. in LucaÌ„ c. 16. Sunt ne mei sunt ne tui imo sunt gemitus Ecclesiae aliquando in me aliquando in te August eodem modo quo S. August dixit Deo Conqueror tibi Domine lachrymis Jesu Christi de quo dictum est Heb. 5. 7. {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} De extemporali dicendi facultate Quintil. l. 10. c. 7. Quest 2. 1 Cor. 12. 7. Quintil. dial de Oratorib Quintil 1 Cor. 14 18. Quintilian * Quale ect illud apud Tertull de privatìs Christianorum precibus non quidem ab alio dictatis sed à Scripturarum fontibus derivatis Illuc suspicientes Christiani manibus expansis quia innocui capite nudo quia non erubescimus denique sine monitore quia de pectore oramus pro omnibus Imperatoribas vitam illis prolixam imperium securum domum tutam exercitus fortes senatum fidelem populum probum orbem quietum quaecunque hominis Caesaris vota sunt 1 Cor. 4. 1. Gen. 20. 7. Actâ— 6. 4. 2 Chron. 29. 30 * Mat. 5. 1. Mat. 6. 9. Luke 11. 2. Proaeres ap. Eunapium Gal. 3. 2. Vid. Scalig. de emend. tempor de Judaeor magn. Allelujah * Imò totus Canon consecrationis tam similis est ferè idem in verbis apud Graecos Latinos Arabas Armenios Syros Egyptios AEthiopas ut nisi à communi fonte qui nisi Apostolorum non est manare non potuerit Unde intelligi datur quia multum erat ut in Epistolâ totum illum agendi ordinem insinuaret quem Vniversa per orbem servat Ecclesia ab ipso ordinatum esse quod nulla morum diversitate variatur S. Aug. ep. 118. Greg. l. 7. cp. 63. Hier. lib. contr. Pelag. * Eligo in his verbis hoc intelligere quod omnis vel pene omnis frequentat Ecclesia ut precationes accipiamus dictas quos facimus in celebratione Sacramentorum antequam illud quod est in Domini mensâ incipiat benedici orationes cum benedicitur ad distribuendum comminuitur quam totam orationem pene omnis Ecclesia Dominica oratione concludit 8. Aug. cp. 59. q. 5. ad illud Pauli Obsecro primum omnium fieri obsecrationes Col. 3. 16. Epist. 119. c. 18. In theophrast. charact Ap. Euseb 1. 7. c. 24. Et Walafr Strab. c. 25. de reb. Eccles. Apoc. 15. {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} Hesych vide S. August ep. 59 q. 5. in hunc locum descripsi verba ad §. 86. ut quisque de Scripturis sanctis vel de proprio ingenio potest provocatur in medium Deo canere Tertull. Apolog 1 Cor. 14. Horat. Epist. l. 2. cp. 1. Epist. ad Antiochen memorantur etiam in 25 Canone Apostolorum * De proprio ingeuio de pectore sine monitore we finde once in Tertullian Altare Damas cenum S. Cyprian op. 27 1 Tim. 2. 5. Seneca l. 5. ep. 40 Quintil. lib. 10. cap. 7. Plin. Panegyr Trajan dictum Quintilian de extemporal facult. l. 10. c. 7. Quint l. 10. c. 7. Idem ibid. Lucian Rhetor praecept {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} Quint l. 10. 7.
the Greek Church calling the publike Lyturgie {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} which signifies prayers made for the use of the Idiotae or private persons as the word is contradistinguished from the Rulers of the Church For {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} signifies contum and {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} is as much as {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} to live in the condition of a private person and in the vulgar Greek sayes Arcadius {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} signifie a little man of a low stature from which two significations {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} may well enough design a short form of Prayer made for the use of private persons And this was reasonable and part of the Religion even of the Heathen as well as Christians the presidents of their Religion were to finde prayers for the people and teach them formes of addresse to their Gods Castis cum pueris ignara puella mariti Disceret unde preces vatem ni Musa dedisset Poscit opem chorus praesentia numina sentit Caelestes implorat aquas doctâ prece blandus Carmine dii superi placantur carmine Manes But this was by the way But because I am casually fallen upon mention of sect. 93 the Laodicean Councel and that it was very ancient before the Nicene and of very great reputation both in the East and in the West it will not be a contemptible addition to the reputation of set formes of Lyturgie that we finde them so early in the Church reduced to a very regular and composed manner The XV Canon suffers none to sing in the Church but the {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} they that sing by book and goe up into the Pulpit they were the same persons and the manner of doing their office was their appellative which shews plainly that the known custome of the Church was for them who were in the {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} in the Pulpit to read their offices and devotions They read them {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} that 's the word in the Canon Those things which signifie the greatest or first Antiquity are said to be {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} was spoken proverbially to signifie ancient things And {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} So that if these Fathers chose these words as Grammarians the singers {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} were such as sung ancient Hymnes of Primitive antiquity which also is the more credible because the persons were noted and distinguished by their imployment as a thing knowne by so long an use till it came to be their appellative The 17. and 18. Canons command that Lessons and Psalmes should be said interchangeably {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} and the same Liturgie that 's the word or office of prayers to be said alwayes at Nones and Vespers This shews the manner of executing their office of Psalmists and Readers they did not sing or say ex tempore but they read Prayers and Psalmes and sung them out of a Booke neither were they brought in fresh and new at every meeting but it was {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} still the same forme of prayers without variation But then if we remember how ancient this office was sect. 94 in the Church and that the {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} the Readers and Singers were Clericall offices deputed for publike ministry about prayers and devotions in the Church for so we are told by Simeon Thessalonicensis in particular concerning the {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} he does dictate the hymnes to the singers and then of the singers there is no question and that these two offices was so ancient in the Church that they were mentioned by S. Ignatius who was contemporary with the latter times of the Apostles We may well beleeve that set and described formes of Liturgie were as early as the dayes of the Apostles and continued in the continuation of those and the like offices in all descending ages Of the same designe and intimation were those knowne offices in the Greek Church of the {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} and the {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} which Socrates speaks of as of an office in the Church of Alexandria {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} c. Their office was the same with the Reader they did ex praescripto praeire ad verbum referre the same which ab Alexandro notes to have beene done in the religious rites of Heathen Greece They first read out of a Book the appointed prayers and the others rehearsed them after Now it is unimaginable that constant officers should be appointed to say an office and no publike office be described I shall adde but this one thing more and passe on sect. 95 ad alia And that is that I never yet saw any instance example or pretence of precedent of any Bishop Priest or Lay person that ever prayed ex tempore in the Church and although in some places single Bishops or peradventure other persons of lesse Authority did oftentimes bring prayers of their * owne into the Church yet ever they were compositions and premeditations and were brought thither there to be repeated often and added to the Lyturgie and although the Lyturgies while they were lesse full then since they have been were apt to receive the additions of pious and excellent Persons yet the inconvenience grew so great by permitting any forms but what were approved by a publike Spirit that the Church as She alwaies had forms of publike Prescription so She resolved to permit no mixture of any thing but what was warranted by an equall power that the Spirits of the Prophets might be subject to the Prophets and such Spirits when they are once tryed whether they be of God or no tryed by a lawfull Superiour and a competent Judge may then venture into the open aire And it were a strange imprudence choosingly to entertaine those inconveniences which our wiser Fore-fathers felt and declar'd and remedied For why should we be in love with that evill against which they so carefully arm'd their Churches by the provision and defence of Lawes For this produc'd that Canon of the Councell of Mileuis in Africa Placuit ut preces quae probatae fuerint in Conoilio ab omnibus celebrentur nec aliae omninò dicantur in Ecclesiâ nisi quae a prudentioribus factae fuerint in Synodo That 's the restraint and prohibition publike Prayers must be such as are publikely appointed and prescribed by our Superiors and no private formes of our conceiving must be used in the Church The reason followes Ne fortè aliquid contra fidem