as we would be accounted His Disciples Neither will saying the Substance of it in other Words of our own Invention answer the intent of this Command Since 1. We are sure the Substance of the Prayer is put by Christ in the most apposite and comprehensive Words that are possible and therefore wholly to lay them aside for others is plainly to decline the choice of Words that Christ has made for us and substitute less apposite of our own to express those Petitions in 2. The more particularly any thing is Commanded in the Worship of God we ought to be the more carefull to observe it and may be the more confident that God is pleased with our performance of it since therefore we are particularly Commanded when we pray to say Our Father c. whatever other prayers we offer to God this ought not to be omitted 3. In general we are Commanded to offer up our desires to God and in particular to offer this Prayer These Commands agree very well together and therefore the one ought not to justle out the other To lay aside the Prayer particularly commanded by Christ for others of our own composing in pusuance of the general Command is too apparently to prefer our own Invention to God's Command 4. When we take the liberty to word our own Prayers we may forget some things we may mix our own frailties and weakness in our Petitions and this too often appears both in the matter and wording of them The way therefore to supply these defects and to obtain pardon for our Infirmities is to use our Lords perfect Prayer not only as a Pattern for prayer as some would have it but likewise as a Form necessary to be used to correct what may be amiss or defective in our own prayers 5. They who lay aside the words of the Lord's Prayer are in danger to lay aside some of the substance of it also particularly the substance of that Petition Forgive us our Trespasses as we forgive them that trespass against us For many who lay aside the Lord's Prayer do neither in terms nor substance offer this Petition to God nay are so far from making this the Condition of their pardon as Christ has taught us that they publickly dispute against the Form for this very reason Tho' Christ who fore-saw the Objection which our Corruptions would be apt to make has Answered it and bound it upon us indispensibly as our Duty to ask Forgiveness on these and no other terms Matth. vi 15 And indeed if such a Sentence had been prescribed by our Lord to be only repeated by Christians once or oftner every day it would have seemed but what was necessary to mind them of that peculiar and indispensible Duty of their profession We see the Wisdom of the Ancients thought fit to reduce their Doctrine or Instructions into Proverbs or short Sentences to be got by heart and kept continually in memory as of great influence for guiding Mens Lives and Actions and such Sentences must be of much greater influence when repeated in the presence of God as these in our Lord's Prayer are required to be Lastly This Prayer being given us as a Badge of our Profession a Summary of our Duty as Christians and a Form of Sound Words it is no more lawful to alter it than to lay it aside and it would be the same presumption and hazard to substitute other words instead of Christs in this Prayer which we are oblig'd always to use when we pray as to change the words of our Creed or as it would be in a Battel to change the Word given by a General or any part of it and to retain onely the signification of it From all which 't is manifest that God has required Forms of Prayer to be used by us both in the Old and New Testament As to the difference we find in the Lord's Prayer as delivered by St. Matthew and St. Luke 't is to be observed that our Saviour spake in the Syriac or vulgar Hebrew and the Evangelists writ their Gospels in Greek Now in the Syriack one and the same word expresses both those different words which the Evangelists use in the same Petition as Debts and Trespasses c. So that it is no real but a seeming difference between them all the different Words being the same in the Original Language in which our Saviour spake IV. As we have the Command of God and the Example of his Saints for offering up our Prayers to Him in a set and prepared Form of Words so we have the like Example for joyning Voices upon occasion in offering these Words Generally it is sufficient that the People joyn in their hearts with the words of publick Prayers yet the Scriptures warrant also on some Occasions their joyning their Voices 1. Thus we find the people of Israel addressing themselves to God Judges xxi 2 And the people came to the House of God and abode there till even before God and lift up their Voices and wept sore and said O Lord God of Israel why is this come to pass in Israel c. 2. In Hymns and Psalms which are also Prayers in great part as I noted before the people are generally allowed by all as being fully warranted by Scripture to joyn their Voices So Moses and the Children of Israel sung unto the Lord Exod. xv 1 3. In the New Testament we have an Eminent Example of this practise Acts iv 24 where the Apostles and their Disciples lift up their Voice to God with one accord and said Lord thou art God c. If this prayer was immediately inspired as it seems it was then the whole Assembly was inspired together not only to think the same Thing but likewise to utter the same Words and the Spirit of God by it has attested the fitness and decency of a whole Congregation's pronouncing the same prayer together If it had not been convenient that this should be some times practised in our Christian Assemblies God would not have given us this Example If the people were always to joyn in their hearts only with our publick prayers it would have been so here for the Spirit of God wou'd not have led them to do an indecent thing or a thing unfit for God's Worship 4. St. Paul and Silas joyned also their Voices in their prayers as we may see from Acts xvi 25 And at midnight Paul and Silas prayed and sung praises unto God and the prisoners heard them I know it may be alledged That they sung their prayers which they offered up to God on this Occasion and on that account joyned their Voices I confess the Original favours this Inference but if it be allowed that the Apostles sung their prayers together it must be allowed that they might likewise say them together For we find the Blessed in Heaven offering not only their praises together but their prayers also so Rev. vi 10 They cried with a loud voice saying How long
to express our Desires in or enables us to make one 't is sufficient and we ought to be thankful 7. In confirmation of this Account of the Spirit of Prayer we may further observe 1. That no Worship is Acceptable to God that is not offer'd to Him in Spirit and Truth John iv 24 and therefore the Scripture recommends to us prayers in and by the Spirit but that praying with the Spirit doth not signifie extemporary unpremeditated prayers or exclude Forms will appear from 1 Cor. xiv 15 I will pray with the Spirit I will pray with the Vnderstanding I will sing with the Spirit I will sing with the Vnderstanding also Here we find singing with the Spirit as well as praying with it and whoever sings otherwise doth not worship God as he ought but tho' we are obliged to sing with the Spirit yet we must and ought to sing in the Congregation with a set Form of Words and therefore for the same reason tho' we pray with the Spirit we may pray by a set and prepared Form of Words The most spiritual Songs consist of a set Form of imposed Words and so may the most spiritual Prayers Praying therefore with the Spirit in this place is so far from meaning or being an Argument for the Use of extemporary unpremeditated prayers that it is rather an Argument against them For either we are obliged by it to sing to God in extemporary Hymns or we are not obliged to pray to Him in extemporary Prayers since it is Unreasonable to interpret singing with the Spirit in one sense and praying with the Spirit in a contrary 2. And to confirm this further we find the most spiritual Persons addressing themselves to God in Forms so did Moses so did David as I observed before and so did our Saviour himself on the Cross when in his Agony he repeated the first Verse of Psal. xxii in Syriack and as some believe the whole Psalm by which Act He recommendeth to us Forms of Prayer in his Dying Breath as the most proper means of expressing our condition to God and as most suitable to the Divine Majesty and therefore praying in the Spirit Ephes. vi 18 Praying in the holy Ghost Jude 20. and with the Spirit 1 Cor. xiv 15 signifie praying with Grace in our Hearts by the Assistance and Motion of the Holy Spirit And a man may as well pray with Grace in his Heart when he prays by a Form as sing with Grace in his Heart when he sings by a Form 3. We have a Promise that God's Spirit will assist us with this Grace in our Hearts but we have no Promise that He will help us to Words without the Use of Forms as will appear from Rom. viii 26 The Spirit also helpeth our Infirmities for we know not what we should pray for as we ought but the Spirit it self maketh Intercession for us with groanings that cannot be uttered those inward motions in the Heart called here groanings are that Grace in the Heart with which we ought to pray and to which the Spirit of God doth and indeed only can help us and to pray with this Grace is to pray in and with the Spirit whether we use words or no and if we do use them whether we reduce them into a Form first or pour them forth as they present themselves to our Minds but we have no Promise that the Holy Ghost will always furnish us with fit words on all occasions and therefore ought not to presume that He will 4. T is certain that he did furnish some with such words for we find both Prayers and Hymns dictated immediately by him of which we have Examples in the Hymns of the Blessed Virgin and Zacharias and in the Song or Prayer of Simeon and in Acts iv 24 But then it is manifest that this was an extraordinary Gift of God and a part of Prophecy and we may not depend on the holy Ghost for this Gift more then for any other Extraordinary Gift till it be made appear that it was to continue alwaies in the Church and to be communicated to All the Children of God Praying and singing the Praises of God are Duties incumbent on all Christians but we are no more obliged to pray Extemporary Prayers from any Example of inspired Men in Scripture than to sing Extemporary Hymns from the like Examples to which yet none I think pretend 5. 'T is very observable that even those who composed their Prayers and Hymns by immediate inspiration did not generally offer them to God in the Congregation till they had first reduced them into a Form Thus David first penned his Psalms and then delivered them to be sung 1. Chron. xvi 7 and 't is probable the Prophets 1. Cor. xiv 26 did the same for they are supposed every one to have a Psalm a Doctrine a Tongue a Revelation c. that is to have them ready and reduced into Form for the use of the Church when they came together That this is the meaning of having a Psalm c. in this place will appear very probable not only from the words which naturally import this and can hardly be otherwise interpreted but likewise from the Apostles making a difference between what these Prophets had prepared and what was revealed immediately at the time of their being together vers 30. If any thing be revealed to another that siteth by let the first hold his peace Which shews that these Psalms c. were to give place to such as were immediately inspired So far were these inspired Men from countenancing an extemporary unpremeditated way of serving God except where there was an immediate Revelation for it and so utterly void of Scripture-proof is this great principle of the Dissenters Worship that the Spirit of prayer is given to every one of the Faithfull to enable them to conceive with the Heart and express with their Tongues their necessities to God without a Form of Prayer 8. It lies therefore my Friends on your Teachers who are of this persuasion to produce plain Scripture for your principles or else to confess that you have laid aside Prayers by Forms commanded by God and practised by holy Men in Scriptures to make room for this way of Praying of Men's own invention But further that place Eccl. v. 1.2 seems to me to afford a strong Argument against such Prayers When thou goest to the House of God Be not rash with thy Mouth and let not thy Heart be hasty to utter any thing before God for God is in Heaven and thou upon Earth Therefore let thy words be few It is hard to say what it is to be rash with our Mouths or hasty to utter any thing before God if it be not rashnesh to trust the expressing all our desires to such uncertain and unpremeditated words as our invention suggests unto us when we come before him which as I have shewed the Scriptures give us no promise of being supplied to us
the sense of it and in that respect very inconvenient and is likewise a late invention of our own never used by any Foreign Church either Popish or Reformed for ought I can find to this day and has been taken up to supply the negligence and laziness of people who will not now as formerly be at pains to get Psalms by heart or so much as procure Books or learn to read them 5. Notwithstanding your Directory requires the voice in singing Psalms to be tuneable and gravely ordered yet you have not only refused the Use of Instruments which are a natural means to help the Voice and make it tuneable and are used by most of the Reformed Churches in Europe but have also determined it to be Unlawful I would intreat you to consider that though perhaps it may not be so proper to press the Use of Instruments in the service of God in these parts where so many for want of being used to them have entertained prejudices against them and some are uncapable of being affected by them yet the making them Unlawful is against Nature and Scripture and is on that account a dangerous Superstition and Encroachment on Christian Liberty 6. The same Superstition and Encroachment it is not only to forbear to praise God in singing or saying Psalms and Hymns by way of Responses or Answering of which I have given such Noble Precedents out of Scripture but even to determine it to be Unlawful Lastly I would entreat you to consider That forasmuch as appears you have altogether laid aside the Psalms in Prose and the other Scripture Hymns that are of God's immediate Appointment and for the Use of which we have the Example of our Saviour and his Saints insomuch that they are no where used by you in the Praises of God but in their stead you have substituted as is before observed a few Verses of a Psalm of Human Composure without Scripture-Example or Precedent and sing them in a way that has nothing of Antient Practise much less Scripture for it but is purely and immediately an Invention of Men. IV. The Case then between our Church and you in this point I think impartially stands thus Our Church praises God every day with five or six Psalms besides other Hymns of His Own Appointment and in His own Words and Method and yet is deserted and condemned by you in this very point as Teaching for Doctrines the Commandments of Men whereas you who only praise Him in a piece of a Psalm of a few Verses and in a Method of your own finding out perswade your selves that you keep the Ordinances of God pure and unmixed from Human Invention This is a thing seriously to be considered by you for as it is easie to think what all unprejudiced Men will judge of it now so we may conclude what God will judge it at the last day If you in earnest lay these things to heart and reflect on them I perswade my self that they will at least prevail with you to be modest in your Censures of us your Brethren and prevent your Judging much less Condemning us or our manner of praising God as Unacceptable to Him CHAP. II. Of Prayer Sect. 1. What the Holy Scriptures prescribe concerning it I. LEt us now proceed to the Second main part of the Worship of God in the Publick Meetings of Christians which I observed was Prayer or Supplication And if we consider what Rules Directions and Examples the Scriptures afford us for the performance of this Duty we shall find That they direct us to offer up our Prayers in a set and prepared Form of Words That we may more clearly judge of this matter it will be fit to consider the several parts of Prayer distinctly by themselves such as Confession Supplication Intercession c. 1. Confession of our own Unworthiness and of God's Mercy to aggravate it is commonly looked on as the first part of Prayer and proper to introduce our Supplications Now in searching the Scriptures we shall find express Command to use a set Form of Words in both these sorts of Confession So Deuteron xxvi 3 Thou shalt go unto the Priest that shall be in those days and say unto him I profess this day unto the Lord thy God that I am come unto the Countrey which the Lord sware unto our fore-Fathers to give us And then the Offerer was to make his Confession vers 5 And thou shalt speak and say before the Lord thy God A Syrian ready to perish was my Father c. Here we have a Form of Confession of the person's Vnworthiness and of God's Goodness and Mercy together with a profession of Obedience and dependance on Him prescribed by God Himself in set prepared words The same appears from Solomon's prescribing a Form of Confession for the penitent Israelites 1 Kings viii 47 which words we find accordingly applied in Psal. cvi 6 and made part of a larger Form of Confession to be used in their Captivity as Solomon designed them which appears from the 47th Verse of the same Psalm taken from the Form prescribed by David 1 Chro. xvi 35 And Daniel in his Form of Confession in Captivity Chap. ix vers 5. uses the same Form of Words From whence it appears that they were not left Arbitrarily to Choice or Discretion tho' other Words might be joyned with them when there was occasion to enlarge or vary the Form Many of the Psalms are Forms of Confession and were used and daily Repeated by the Jewish Church Psal. li. was the Form of Confession David prepared and us'd for his Murther and Adultery and he not only used it himself but directed it to the Master of his Choire to be used in the Publick Service as appears from the Title of it Psal. lxxviii is a general Confession for the whole people setting forth at large the Mercies of God to them and their Ingratitude Disobedience and Rebellion and this not as a Pattern but as a set and prepared Form to be used in their publick Service All which shew us that Addresses to God in such Forms are of Divine Institution and are a warrant to us that he approves that our Confession should be made to him in that manner 2. The second part of Prayer is Supplication for good things and in this Case we have likewise the Commandment of God for a Form of Words Deut. xxvi 13 15. Then thou shalt say before the Lord thy God Look down from thy holy Habitation from Heaven and bless thy people Israel and the Land which thou hast given us as thou swarest unto our Fathers c. So Hos. xiv 2 Take with you words and turn to the Lord your God and say unto Him Take away all Iniquity c. Moses in the Wilderness used a set Form of Words to this purpose and recommended it to be used by the Church of God for ever as is manifest from Psal. xc which has this Title A Prayer of Moses
the Man of God When such a person by the Inspiration of the holy Ghost used and left to be used by us in our Supplications such a set and prepared Form of Words we ought not to doubt but that manner of Address is acceptable to God 3. The third part of Prayer is Intercession in the behalf of others Now Blessing is an eminent sort of Intercession and for the use of a set Form of Words in this we have likewise the Command of God Numb vi 23 On this wise ye shall bless the Children of Israel saying unto them The Lord bless thee and keep thee c. Here we have not onely a Blessing but an earnest Intercession with God for his people and the Form and Words prescribed by Himself which were not to be used by mean ignorant people who are only now supposed by some to need the help of Forms but by Aaron and his Sons the Chief Priests From which we may be assured That God approves that manner of Address in our Blessings and Intercessions for one another not onely from mean people but from the greatest 4. The fourth part of Prayer consisteth in Petitions for averting evil commonly called Deprecation and for this purpose we have several Forms prescribed by God Joel i. 14 Gather the Elders and all the Inhabitants of the Land into the House of the Lord your God and say unto the Lord Alas for the day the day of the Lord is at hand c. We have God's Commandment for another Form Joel ii 17 Let the Priests the Ministers of the Lord weep between the Porch and the Altar and let them say Spare thy people O Lord and give not thine heritage to reproach c. From whence it clearly follows that God approves the use of a Form in this part of Prayer tho' commonly the most earnest and importunate and such as seems least to admit of being bounded by a Form so that we have the Approbation and Commandment of God for the use of a set Form of Words in all the parts of Prayer II. And accordingly we find Holy Men of God tho' full of Wisdom and of his Spirit using the same set Form of Prayer always on the same occasion Thus the Scriptures inform us concerning Moses Num. x. 35 When the Ark set forward Moses said Rise up Lord and let thine Enemies be scattered and let them that hate thee flee before thee And when it rested he said Return O Lord unto the many Thousands of Israel From whence it appears that God approves the use of one set constant Form of Words in our Prayers as long as the occasion of repeating them is the same for I presume none will suspect it was for want of Words or of the Spirit of Prayer that Moses confined himself to this Form I shall add further that the whole Book of Psalms is a Collection of Prayers of all sorts And there are few of them but what are most Excellent Forms of Prayer expressed in such pathetick significant and moving words that we have great reason to thank God for furnishing us with them and which we can never hope to equal by any of our own invention such are the 4 5 6 7 9 10 12 c. On this account they were used by the Jews as the constant Service and Liturgy performed in their Temple as we may gather from what I formerly quoted 2 Chron. xxix 30. III. But perhaps some may think these Commands and Examples of set Forms of Prayer not to be a sufficient Warrant to Christians because they are taken out of the Old Testament before the Spirit was poured out in so plentiful a measure as under the Gospel I shall therefore proceed to examine the Commands and Examples of the New Testament and here 1. I think it is certain that our Saviour and his Apostles prayed by a Form for they joyned in the Worship of the Temple and Synagogues which consisted in Psalms as I have already shewed and in some certain Forms of Prayers added to them and constantly used in their daily Service as we learn from those that give an Account of the Jewish Worship at that time Now our Saviour and his Apostles being frequently present at their Service both in the Temple and Synagogues 't is manifest they approved the manner of Addressing themselves to God in a set Form of Words 2. But our Saviour has put this matter out of all dispute with impartial Men by prescribing a Form to his Disciples when they desired him to teach them to pray as John taught his Disciples For we find his way of Teaching them was not by directing them to wait for the impulses of the Spirit and immediate Inspiration from God of what they were to offer up to him We do not find him saying When ye pray speak what shall then come into your minds or what shall be given you in that hour without taking thought about what they should say as He did in another case that is when they should be brought before Governours and Kings for his sake Mat. x. 19 But in addressing themselves to God he prescribed them a Form of Words and Commanded them to use it Luke xi 2 And he said unto them When ye pray say Our Father which art in Heaven c. Here is an express Command of Christ to his Disciples to use these Words when they pray Our Father c. A Command for the use of a Form so plain that it is impossible to express it in clearer terms 'T is not to be doubted but Religious Persons among the Jews offer'd up constantly prayers to God We see it in David Psal. lv 17 and in Daniel Chap. vi 10 And no doubt the Disciples of our Saviour were not wanting in this Duty nor in skill to perform it since we find that other devout Persons of their time had their hours of Prayer as we see in Acts iii. 1 Therefore what they desired of our Saviour was not to teach them absolutely or in general to pray but to teach them to pray as John also taught his Disciples that is to give them a Form of Prayer proper to His Institution as they saw the Disciples of Moses and John had proper to theirs Upon which our Saviour gave them the Lord's-Prayer as a summary of the main points of his Doctrine and as a constant badge of their being his Disciples As if he should have said When ever you offer up to God your usual Prayers which Religious Custom has taught you as Jews and Disciples of Moses or of John whether in Secret or Publick add this always to your other prayers for a continual Remembrance to you of those Duties Priviledges and Qualifications which belong to you as My Disciples and as a means of obtaining Grace from your Heavenly Father to enable you to persevere in them The lords-Lords-Prayer is therefore a badge of Our Profession imposed by Christ himself and to be used by Us
by the Spirit on ordinary occasions I appeal to you whether it would not be looked on as rashness for an ordinary person to speak to a Prince or solemn Assembly concerning a matter of great moment in words unpremeditated and unformed and we shall hardly find any so rash as to venture on it King Solomon here seems to have recommended the same modesty to Men in their Addresses to God 9. But in as much as God has not expressly forbidden all extemporary prayers I would not be understood by this to condemn all such as unlawful There may be some Men tho' not very many able to express themselves significantly and decently extempore and there are some occasions that require it even in Publick and on these occasions when a Man has not time allowed him to reduce his desires into form before he offers them he may depend on the assistance of God's Spirit as we may in all other cases of of necessity or at least hope for pardon of course to our infirmities But to depend on that Spirit and neglect the means God has given us to provide our selves looks so like tempting him that we ought carefully to avoid it And I find Prudent Modest Men are aware of this and tho' they be very famous for extemporary prayers yet they pray really as much by a Form as if they had the Common-Prayer before them The secret is only this they compose Forms of Prayer of several sorts digest them well in their minds and commit them to memory so that they can on occasion transpose the parts of them change add or leave out as they see reason and thus they are in effect provided with a Form tho' the people cannot perceive it and admire them for their readiness and fluency It is easie for any Man of Moderate Parts to manage the matter thus but the more ignorant and ordinary Preachers that know not or are not capable of the method of it fall into very indecent and vain repetitions and are often at a loss when they strive to practise this way of Addressing to God Another account may be given of these seeming Extemporary Prayers not much different from the former namely That good Men who make a Conscience of secret prayer to God and have grown up in a constant Discharge of this Duty do by degrees fall into a Form even with themselves for how much soever their prayers were Extempore at first yet having continual Occasion of praying to God for the same things they find in time that there is but one best way of expressing the same thing which necessarily leads to a form However the various ways they made use of before they settled on one serve them as so many forms when they come in publick And by changing of these they seem to pray extempore 10. Lastly let me observe that the use of Extemporary conceived prayers even in cases of necessity is founded on a general Rule of Scripture only which commands us to ask of God what we lack Of which Rule our own prudence makes the Application in such extemporary occasions but when we set up this Human Application of this general Rule in opposition to that particular manner of asking commanded by God and practised by Holy Men which is by set and premeditated Forms in the ordinary Worship of God and turn God's way out of his Worship to make room for one of our own This is to displace a particular command of God on pretence of guiding our selves by a general one In which we are not only more liable to mistakes but we fail of paying due respect to God's Directions For general Commands ought only to take place in such Cases where God has not laid down a particular Rule And thus I have examined the First Principle of Dissenters That the Spirit of Prayer is given to all the Children of God whereby they are enabled to conceive with the Heart and express with the Mouth convenient desires to God IV. I come now to speak to the Second That all Forms of Prayer are Vnlawfull to Christians and that it is a sin to join in a Worship where they are used or so much as to be present at it If there be any of you for whom I intend these Papers of this opinion as I fear some of you are and all of you do in your practice comply with those that maintain it and therefore cannot acquit your selves from countenancing it I desire you to observe that if there were no harm in the opinion or if it were a meer Speculation we should not be much concerned at their mistake But by what I have shewed of the Scripture Authority of Forms it is plain that they who maintain this principle do not only teach for Doctrines the Commandments of Men but in effect set themselves up above Christ and countermand what he has required They not only add to the Gospel a new command by Teaching that to be unlawful which Christ has no where condemned but they Teach that to be unlawful which he has positively commanded Whoever therefore do Teach Forms of Prayer to be unlawful or countenance those that do Teach this Doctrine of Men cannot acquit themselves from the imputation of resisting the Holy Ghost by whose inspiration the word of God is penned I can foresee only one thing that can be alledged in favour of those who maintain this opinion and 't is that to pray with or without a Form excepting the Lords-Prayer is in it self indifferent and that therefore the asserting the use of Forms is not a matter of such weight as to justify our contending with our Brethren about it and that it seems uncharitable in us to insist on a thing which they are fully perswaded is unlawful and we our selves count indifferent 1. But in Answer to this it is to be observed First That an opinion which necessarily divides him who believes it from the Communion of all the Established Churches in the World cannot be of so little moment as the objection would make it And such is this opinion of the unlawfulness of Forms of Prayer since there neither is nor has been any Established Church these 1500 years but has maintained their Lawfulness and used them in the Service of God and therefore whoever believes them to be unlawful in whatever Age he had lived he must have separated from all the Established Churches of the World at that time and surely an opinion that necessarily produces such a Division must be of mighty consequence whether true or false ought to be carefully examined and if false to be zealously opposed But 2. I suppose it will be granted that eating Swines Flesh or drinking Wine are as indifferent as using a Form of Prayer and of less concern to the Souls of Men and that therefore to Teach these to be unlawful would be as innocent a mistake as to Teach the unlawfulness of Forms For if we compare these two Doctrines together
the unlawfulness of forms prevails and therefore all good people are obliged to oppose it as they would retrieve the constant use of secret prayers which shews that this is no indifferent matter as the objection would suggest but of great weight and fit to be contended for I will not mention some other Reasons that are of great moment because they would but exasperate and tend to make the Duty of Prayer when performed extempore ridiculous which ill men might extend as it too often happens to expose Devotion in general such are the indecent Expressions which sometimes fall from persons that pray thus I will only observe to you that Extemporary Prayers of some Preachers have too often given occasion of Offence to serious persons even among your selves 'T is certain that to print some of them as they have been spoken as those that we make use of are printed would not be for the Honour of the Holy Spirit to whom they are ascribed nor much recommend them to serious Men. But I esteem it an ill thing for Men to ridicule one anothers Devotion whatever it is V. There remains yet the Third Opinion of Dissenters which they advance against us in this matter of Prayer to be Examined That the Minister is the Mouth of the Congregation and that the People have nothing to do but to joyn with him in their Hearts An Opinion far from any Authority of Scripture which expresly requires us Rom. xv 6 with one Mind and one Mouth to glorifie God We produce this and many other places and Examples in Scripture for the People's joyning their Voices and bearing a part in their praises and prayers and we are assured there is no Scripture forbids it and therefore when you Condemn it or teach it to be Unlawful we must charge it upon You as an instance of Your Teaching for Doctrines the Commandments of Men. Which is all I think needful to be said to this Head after what I have shewed before in defence of our contrary practise from Scripture and I think sufficient to induce you seriously to consider it And thus I presume I have faithfully examined the Rules and Examples the Scriptures afford us for the performance of that part of our publick Worship that consists in Prayers and compared the Service of our Church and the Dissenters way of Praying with them and made it appear that our performance of this Duty both as to the Matter and Manner is agreeable to the Commandments of God and to the Examples of Holy Men recorded in Scripture And that the Service the Dissenters have substituted in the room thereof has in many particulars laid aside God's Commands and deserted the Examples of Scripture and is in the main part thereof an immediate Invention of Men. And I intreat you who are of this Persuasion and adhere to these Principles of Worship which I have now mentioned and shewed to be disagreeable to Scripture to consider seriously whether you are not thereby literally guilty of that Sin with which our Saviour taxeth the Jews Mark vii 7 of Teaching for Doctrines the Commandments of Men And also of that Superstition condemned by St. Paul Col. ii 21 which saith Touch not taste not handle not that is which teaches to forbear those things which God has made Lawful after the Doctrines and Commandments of Men And I beseech God to inlighten your Minds to make a true Judgement in it that you may deliver your Souls CHAP. III. Of Hearing Sect. 1. What the Holy Scriptures prescribe concerning it I. ONE great design of Our Christian Assemblies is Hearing and that which is to be heard is the Word of God I shall proceed in examining this in the same manner as I have done in the former Chapters And consider First What Directions the Scriptures afford us for the publick performance of this Duty Secondly Shall compare our own practice with them And Thirdly That of the Dissenters First then God has positively Commanded us to read His Word in our publick Assemblies So Deut. xxxi 10 In the feast of Tabernacles when all Israel is come to appear before the Lord thy God in the place where the Lord shall choose Thou shalt read this Law before all Israel in their Hearing Gather the people together Men Women and Children and thy Stranger that is within thy gates that they may hear and that they may learn and fear the Lord your God and observe to do all the Words of this Law And 't is observed Jos. viii 35 that there was not a word of all that Moses Commanded which Joshua read not before all the Congregation Neither was this confined to their Solemn Assemblies at Jerusalem It was likewise a constant part of their Sabbath Service in their Synagogues As we may learn from Acts xiii 14 where it is observed that Paul and Barnabas went into the Synagogue on the Sabbath day and sate down and after the reading of the Law and the Prophets the Rulers of the Synagogue sent unto them c. and St. Paul takes notice vers 27. that the Prophets were read every Sabbath day meaning undoubtedly in their Assemblies And St. James Acts xv 21 of Moses his being read in the Synagogues every Sabbath day II. This reading the Law was the great and most effectual means God provided for preserving the knowledge of himself amongst his people and where it was omitted the people immediately sunk into Idolatry and the best Reformation began and was carried on by Restoring this Ordinance Thus 't is observed of Josiah 2 Chron. xxxiv 29 that he gathered together all the Elders of Judah and Jerusalem And all the Inhabitants of Jerusalem and the Priâ—sts and the Levites and all the people great and small and he read in their ears all the words of the book of the Covenant that was found in the House of the Lord. The like is observed of Ezra Neh. viii 3 And he read therein before the street that was before the Water-gate from Morning untill Mid-day before the Men and the Women and all that could understand 'T is remarkable that after the Captivity the Jews never fell into Idolatry and the chief reason given by themselves was the strict Observation of this Ordinance of God the Law being constantly read to them afterwards publickly in their Synagogues so powerfully doth God bless his own Ordinances to preserve those that use them from Error and Sin III. From the practice of the Synagogue in reading the Law and the Prophets the like Order was brought into the Christian Church and Reading was made a part of the Office of the Christian Elders as it was before of the Jewish And hence it is that Timothy is Commanded by St. Paul 1 Tim. iv 13 To give attendance to Reading as well as to Exhortation and Doctrine And the inspired Writings of the Apostles were read in the Christian Assemblies as well as the Law and Prophets among the Jews According to St. Paul's Command Col.
effectually upon you then those carnal and servile motives do on others Let me therefore earnestly encourage and intreat you to do it more and more and that you will endeavour to become all things to all Men and decline none of those Arts which are allowable when applied to gain the people to Truth and Holiness But very wicked when employed to divide and seduce them 5. Let me put you in mind That you are Ministers of the Gospel and not of a Party And therefore it concerns you to mind the common interest of Holiness and Religion more then those differences that are often of little concern in themselves and are insisted on only as the occasions and badges of those people who being resolved to seperate themselves are obliged to take up little differences for a distinction The less you meddle with these disputes it is commonly the better And indeed it is not prudent to mention them till Mens minds be fitted and prepared by a true sense of the great Duties of Religion And then the best way perhaps will be to shew of what little weight they are to cause or justify divisions or quarrels amongst Christians I am well aware that it may be objected to us that whilst we press the great Duties of the first and second Table and spend our pains and diligence in defending our common Christianity against Papists Socinians Deists and Atheists those that are our Adversaries in these lesser points have made their advantage of Our being employed against the common Enemy to undermine us with the people nay that some of them have even joined with those Enemies to pull down Our Constitution But yet I persuade my self that we are in less hazard from them whilst we do our Duty and apply our selves to the great and common Obligations of Our Holy Religion then if we should leave this exposed to the Assaults of Our Common Enemies to guard our selves from the attempts of such back Friends We must therefore have an eye to them But the other the great and common Truths and Duties of the Gospel must be our main business I might add many more Remarks proper to my present subject but I know your own Prudence and Observation are sufficient to suggest them to you I shall only add my Prayers for you that God will encrease your Wisdom and Zeal and effectually turn them to his own Glory To the Dissenting Ministers of Derry BUt as to You My Brethren That disown my Communion and Authority I have reason to fear that what I shall offer to you may receive some prejudices from my Station and Character with which you seem offended Yet reason is reason from whom soever it proceeds and I only desire that you would weigh seriously what I have here offered in defence of the Service of Our Church and if the Arguments do not convince You yet let me pray You to reflect thus far on the matter as to remember that all Mens minds are not of the same make and that it becomes You and all good Men at least to treat Our Service with respect Since we believe and think we have proved That it is clearly founded on the Word of God It will not excuse scurrilous or unseemly Reflections on it to say that we are mistaken For all Men are fallible and You may as well be mistaken as you suppose We are And therefore lest You should be in the wrong it will be the safest way to be modest in censuring No Man ought to take it ill that another proposes Reasons against his Opinion but to scoff at or revile any practice or opinion that another believes to be founded on the Word of God is not only ill manners but is of dangerous consequence being apt to breed Bitterness and Animosities between the Parties And if it should happen in a Case where the Practice or Opinion is really Warranted by the Word of God it would be Blasphemy and Impiety And therefore in all matters of Religion we ought to avoid this manner of treatment and whatever Book uses it we need trouble our selves no further with it for it certainly is written only to serve a Party and not Truth There is another thing that in Justice I think I may request of You which is That in Your Worship and Practice You will not make the difference between us seem greater then really it is To abstain from a thing confessed to be lawful in the Service of God meerly because observed by us is surely very far from a Spirit of Meekness and Moderation And therefore I may hope that you will not Indulge Your People in such affected distances that can serve to no other purpose but to make Parties irreconcilable and must proceed from a greater bitterness of Spirit then a good Man can be guilty of towards any Christian. And that You may understand my mind the better in this matter I will give You a few instances that I hope will be inoffensive and in which we may justly expect Your Complyance 1. The first is in the use of the Lord's Prayer which is owned in Your larger Catechism to be Not only for Direction as a Pattern according to which we are to make other Prayers but may be also used as a Prayer And in your Directory 't is recommended to be used in the Prayers of the Church Yet I am informed that You my Brethren of this Diocess who separate from Our Communion do universally neglect it and thereby confirm Your Hearers in an Opinion too common amongst them that all Forms of Prayer are unlawful And that for no other reason that I can learn but to keep up a difference from us in practice where we really agree in point of Doctrine 2. Your sitting at Publick Prayers may be a second Instance in which we may reasonably expect some Reformation 'T is a very irreverent thing in it self against the Command and Examples of Scripture as I think I have sufficiently shewed and against the Opinion of your best Casuists particularly of Dr. Ames de Conscientia Lib. 4· Cap. 18. Sessio per se non est gestus Orandi quia nullam exprimit reverentiam neque in Scripturis approbatur That is Sitting is not of it self a posture of prayer because it expresses no Reverence neither is it approved in Scripture Yet I understand that this is the general posture in which your people Offer their publick prayers and either because it is for their Ease or because you are unwilling to seem to lay any stress on Outward Performances or lastly lest you shou'd be like us you indulge them in it and some of them are so ignorant that they reckon it a piece of Superstition in us to kneel at our prayers and are averse to our Service amongst other Reasons because this is required at it Which Notions I suppose you your selves do not approve and therefore we may justly expect that you shou'd endeavour to inform your people better and
A DISCOURSE CONCERNING The Inventions of Men IN THE WORSHIP OF GOD. By WILLIAM Lord Bishop of DERRY Printed for the instruction of his Diocess DVBLIN Printed for the Author by Andrew Crook Printer to Their Most Sacred Majesties MDCXCIV The Contents of the several Chapters and Sections Introduction COntaining a brief Description of the Inward and Outward Worship of God and Rules for Examining the ordinary parts of Outward Publick Worship Chap. I. Of Praises Sect. 1. What the Holy Scriptures prescribe concerning them page 6. Sect. 2. The manner of Praising God publickly which is prescribed and practised by our Church page 15 Sect. 3. The Dissenters manner of praising God in publick page 18 Chap. II. Of Prayer Sect. 1. What the Holy Scriptures prescribe concerning Prayer page 25 Sect. 2. The Rules and Practice of our Church p. 41 Sect. 3. The practice of those who differ from us p. 43 Chap. III. Of Hearing Sect. 1. What the Holy Scriptures prescribe concerning it page 68 Sect. 2. The practice of our Church in Reading and Preaching the Word page 77 Sect. 3. The practice of the Dissenters page 81 Chap. IV. Of Bodily Worship and Kneeling at the Communion Sect. 1. What the Holy Scriptures prescribe concerning it page 104 Sect. 2. The practice of our Church in Bodily Worship page 114 Sect. 3. The practice of the Dissenters page 117 Chap. V. Of the Lords Supper Sect. 1. What the Holy Scriptures prescribe concerning the frequency of Celebrating it page 145 Sect. 2. The practice of our Church as to frequent Communions page 155 Sect. 3. The practice of the Dissenters page 159 Conclusion To the Conforming Clergy of the Diocess of Derry page 164 To the Dissenting Ministers in the same Diocess p. 170 To the Conforming Laity thereof page 179 To the Dissenting Laity thereof page 181 A DISCOURSE CONCERNING The Inventions of Men IN The VVorship of GOD The Introduction OUR Blessed Saviour has Taught us that there are some Ways of Worshiping God which have so great a Mixture of Human Invention in them that they are Vain and Unacceptable to Him Mark VII 7 In vain saith He do they Worship Me teaching for Doctrines the Commandments of Men. This obligeth every Man who has a Concern for his Soul to examine carefully the Worship he offers to God whether it be such as God has Instituted lest his Service should be Rejected with that Censure in the Prophet Who has required this at your Hands But more especially it concerns the Pastors of the Church who have the Direction of the Publick Worship of God to be careful in Examining this Matter that they may be able to satisfy their own Consciences as well as the People 's Committed to their Charge concerning the Purity of the Worship which they practice Themselves and recommend to Others II. It has pleased God in his Providence to make Me an Overseer over some part of his Flock in this Kingdom and I look upon it to be my Duty to use my Endeavours to Instruct Those that are committed to my Charge in the Worship of God according to the Rules He has prescribed and to warn such as I conceive to swerve from them of their Mistakes I hope it will be of Use and Satisfaction to those that joyn with Me in the Publick Worship of God to find on Examination That what they there practice is agreeable to God's Institution And as to those that think otherwise I persuade my self that an Admonition in the Spirit of Meekness can give them no just Offence but rather be of Use to them also by obliging them to Examine and Revise their Ways that they may correct their Judgments if from what I offer they shall see reason for it III. In Order to help those concerned to make a true and impartial Judgment in these matters I desire them to consider 1 st That it belongs only to God to give Rules how He will be Worshiped This I suppose will be granted by all since it seems to be a Truth naturally implanted in the Minds of Men and Universally acknowledged in all times 2 dly I take it for a Truth agreed to by the generality of Protestants That the Holy Scriptures contain the Revelations of God's Will concerning his Worship 3 dly From these two we may reasonably infer That it concerns us to keep as close as we can to those Directions which God has been pleas'd to afford us in his Word without adding to omitting or altering any thing that He has there laid down For since God has vouchsafed us a certain Direction for his Worship in the Holy Scriptures it is to be supposed that all ways of Worship are displeasing to Him that are not expresly contained or warranted by Examples of Holy Men mentioned therein 4 thly We must observe that the Worship of God is either Inward or Outward The Inward Worship of God consists in the inward Homage and Subjection of our Minds to Him The Outward consists of such Acts and Duties as serve to express this inward Subjection of our Souls or that promote increase or contribute towards it Thus for instance Vocal Prayer is a part of Outward Worship because it expresses the inward Dependance of our Souls on God Thus reading the Word of God is a part of the same because therein we acknowledge our Subjection to Him and to his Laws and use it as a means to promote and increase this Subjection Thus Celebration of the Sacraments is a part of the same Worship because in them we not only express our Dependance on God for his Grace but likewise oblige and bind our selves to serve Him And the same holds in all Outward Acts of Worship 5 thly We must remember That 't is in these Outward Acts that we are more immediately concerned as Publick Worshipers for we cannot know the Inward Worship which Men pay to God in their Minds but as it appears to us by these Outward Acts And generally when we speak of the Publick Worship of God we mean this Outward and concerning it are the great Disputes and Differences among us all of us being agreed as to the inward and of what sort that ought to be IV. Having premised these few things which I hope will be granted by all I shall proceed directly to my proposed Undertaking and shall with the greatest Fairness and Impartiallity I can Examine and Compare the Worship of God which is directed and warranted by Scripture as well with that which is prescribed and practis'd by our Church as with that which is practis'd by such as differ from us V. Now if we consider the ordinary Service of God as prescribed and practic'd in Scripture we shall find the main substantial parts of it to be these five vizt Praises Prayers Hearing Bodily Worship And Celebration of the Holy Sacrament of the Body and Blood of Christ. The Method I shall take in Discoursing of each of these shall be First To shew what the Holy Scriptures
the Spirit and hinder Men from stirring up or using the gift that God has given them 2. Others of you go further and affirm that all Forms of Prayer are unlawful to Christians and that therefore it is a sin to join in a Worship where they are used or to be present at it 3. That the Minister is the mouth of the Congregation and that he only is to speak publickly to God in the behalf of the people and that they are not to join their Voices but their Hearts only with him Upon these principles you forsake our Worship and many of you think it is a sin to be so much as present at our Religious Assemblies It is of great importance therefore that you should understand what the Scriptures determine in this matter for if our Worship which you thus forsake be plainly enjoined by Scripture as I think I have made it sufficiently appear and these principles of Your Worship and Your Practice pursuant to them have no Foundation in Scripture I cannot see how You can answer your forsaking Our Assemblies to God and your own Consciences Let us then consider each of these Principles apart II. And first for that position of your Directory That the Spirit of Prayer is given to all the Children of God in some measure for enabling their Hearts to conceive and their Tongues to express convenient Desires to God I intreat you to consider what Promise or Foundation it has in Scripture I profess to you seriously That upon the strictest Enquiry I could make I never could find any such Promise made to all the Children of God in the Old or New Testaments neither did I ever meet any Dissenter that was able to shew any such Exclusive of the Use of Forms If then there be none such as we may be well assured there is not was it not too much presumption in the Compilers of your Directory to obtrude this Doctrine on the World or perswade people to depend on it and neglect the help of Forms which the Scripture prescribes and recommends to us Nay as there is no Promise for such extraordinary Assistance to all the Children of God to conceive prayer so neither is there any Command in Scripture requiring us to worship or pray to God in a conceiv'd extemporary or unpremeditated prayer or so much as an Example in a settled ordinary Congregation where it was practised If then you can shew none of these in the holy Scriptures neither Promise nor Command 't is a plain case that this Doctrine is a meer Invention of Men and the Worship built on it a Vanity in the sence of our Saviour Mark vii 7 If my design were only to confute an Adversary what I have already said were sufficient but this Spirit of Prayer is a point of such Consequence that I hope it will be both grateful and instructive to the Readers of all sorts to explain it to them and set it in as clear a light as I can which I shall do under the following Heads III. 1. First therefore I doubt not but it will be granted That whoever prayeth to God with Faith Sincerity Fervency Love Humility Conformity to God's will Vnderstanding and Decency of Expression prays Acceptably to Him and is endowed with the Spirit of Prayer and whoever prays without these does want it 2. I suppose no man of himself can attain these Graces that are requisite to make our prayers Acceptable and that therefore we must have the Assistance of Gods Spirit to beget them in us 3. I suppose that it is possible for a man to acquire by natural means an ability to express himself decently in prayer tho' he cannot so acquire Faith or any other inward Grace so that Decency of Expression is the lowest part of the Gift of Prayer and not alwaies a part of it 4. I say that one praying by a Form may have all these Qualifications and therefore his prayer may be acceptable to God and proceed from his Spirit This may be proved to the Dissenters 1. From the Assembly's Larger Catechism which acknowledges it For when the Question is put How is the Lord's Prayer to be used The Answer is The Lord's Prayer is not only for Direction as a pattern according to which we are to make other prayers but may be also used as a prayer so that it be done with Vnderstanding Faith Reverence and other Graces necessary to the right performance of the Duty of prayer 2. Many of the Psalms are as I observed before Forms of Prayer and the Dissenters make no scruple to turn these Forms of Prayers into Meetre and then sing them Line by Line after the Minister As for Example The first Verse of the fifth Psalm runs thus in the Translation they use Give ear unto my words O Lord My meditations weigh Hear my loud cry my King my God For I to theé will pray This is as much a Form of Prayer as any in the Litany and by their using it as they do they plainly practise praying by a Form And do further also allow that prayers as well as praises may be offered to God with singing and that they may repeat their Forms of prayer after the Minister With what reason then can it be said against us That a Form of Prayer sung in Verse and after the Minister's Reading it is Commendable but the same said or sung in Prose is Unlawful 5. Extemporary conceived prayers may want these spiritual qualifications of prayer as I believe will not be denied by those that contend most for them and they often are manifestly deficient being sometimes performed without Reverence or Decency of Expression and by some even without Understanding and where these qualifications are found others may be wanting The Scriptures observe That a man may make long prayers and yet have a mind dispos'd to devour Widows Houses He may want Faith Humility Fervency and Affiance in God and yet be able to pray without a Form And therefore such prayers are not always Acceptable to God 6. Therefore when God promises the Spirit of Grace and of Supplications to his people Zach. xii 10 this Promise doth not extend to enable all men who are God's Children to conceive with their Hearts and express with their Mouths convenient Desires without a Form for as I shewed before every one to whom God gives a Heart and Disposition to pray has the Spirit of Prayer and he who from this principle offers up his desires to God in a Form prays Acceptably and he that offers them without that principle tho' he do it in unpremeditated and extemporary words is rejected and therefore the Spirit of prayer is the grace the heart the disposition and ability to pray and whether it be with or without a Form such a Man's prayers are acceptable to God and 't is greatly superstitious to think or teach otherwise If God give us a heart to pray and by his providence hath provided us a Form
and the mischiefs that each of them have or may hereafter produce It is hardly conceivable that the forbidding the use of some particular Meats should have so many ill effects as the forbidding Forms of prayer has had already Yet it is observable how St. Paul judges of that Doctrine 1 Tim. iv 1 In the latter times saith he some shall depart from the Faith giving heed to seducing Spirits and Doctrines of Devils Forbidding to Marry and to abstain from Meats which God hath Created to be received with Thanksgiving You see here St. Paul counts it a departure from the Faith and a Doctrine of Devils to forbid as unlawful in it self any sort of Meat which God has Created for the use of Man and if it be so Criminal to Teach any sort of Meat to be unclean when God has not forbidden it then sure to Teach a Form of Prayer to be unlawful when God has commanded it must be a very ill Doctrine And this consideration alone ought to make those who maintain it or any such Doctrine whereby they are obliged to condemn their Brethren as practising unlawful things to examine it carefully and impartially by the word of God lest they be imposed on by Seducing Spirits The great Design of the Devil is to bring us into an intire subjection to his will But when he despairs of this his next Attempt is to share with God in our Obedience and impose new Commands of his Own upon us as if they were God's and so to procure himself to be obey'd This he doth most successfully by giving them an appearance of Religion and of more than ordinary strictness Thus in St. Paul's time under colour of Mortification he forbad Meats and Marriage as Vnlawful which God had allowed speaking Lies in Hypocrisie and under shew of Religion And thus 't is to be feared he has prevailed on some under colour of greater spirituality to abstain from Forms of Prayer as Unlawful which God has enjoyned And here it is very remarkable that where-ever the Devil gains this point with men and brings them to believe a thing to be forbidden by God which he has not forbidden he soon brings a super-added Command of his Own in Competition with some of God's and prevails with them to prefer his Commands to God's and so plungeth them into direct Disobedience which was his Design at first Thus when he had prevailed with Men to abstain from Marriage they soon fell not only to Commit Fornication but even in some cases to Allow it rather than Marriage as the Papists do And by perswading Men to abstain from Forms of Prayer as Unlawful he has deprived them in many places of all opportunity of Publick Worship and made them choose rather not to serve God at all in Publick than with a Form which is the case of many Thousands now in this Kingdom who worship God publickly no where But 3. This Doctrine of the Unlawfulness of praying by Forms is no such indifferent thing that we may safely indulge Men in their own sense about it Since it is very apt to puff them up and make them take false measures in judging of their own Condition and of the influence of God's Spirit upon them We know that all good Men have the Spirit of God and are guided and influenced by it in the whole tenor of their Lives we make no doubt but they are assisted by Him in their prayers but no less in forgiving an Injury or resisting a Temptation and his influence on a good Man's Mind is rather greater and more sensible in these and other Acts of Religion than in Prayer Love Joy Peace Long-suffering Gentleness Goodness Faith Meekness Temperance are the Fruits of the Spirit Gal. v. 22 And it is principally by these we ought to conclude that we have that Spirit But the Opinion of the Unlawfulness of Forms of Prayer on a perswasion that the Spirit of God enables every Child of God to conceive with the Heart and express with the Mouth suitable Desires entitles every one to God's Spirit in some measure that is able to express himself in apt and fluent Words tho' without the other Graces of the Spirit and exposes every one to despair that is not able to do this as looking on himself to be destitute of the Spirit tho' otherwise meek humble and charitable and endowed with such Graces as are much wore certain signs of his presence Nay so far are many deluded by this Opinion that they judge themselves or others Children of God and in his Favour according as they are more or less endowed with this Gift without respect to other Qualifications And I dare appeal to your selves Whether some very Immoral Persons guilty of gross and scandalous Crimes have not been eminent for this Gift of Prayer And whether such persons are not apt to flatter themselves that they are the Children of God and endowed with his Spirit notwithstanding all their Wickedness And it is impossible either to convince these persons of their mistake or to comfort poor ignorant people dejected only for want of this Gift whilst they are possessed with this Opinion of the Unlawfulness of Forms Which in the 4th place ought not to be countenanced or indulged as an indifferent thing because it has been a great hindrance to secret Devotion Every Christian ought at least twice a day to address himself to God in secret prayer but a great part of the World cannot do it without a Form Children and ignorant persons are at a loss for Words and even other people are often not able to find them readily especially when wearied dull or indisposed as is sometimes the condition of the the best Christians this makes secret prayer at least a constant regular course of it uneasie to most that are absolutely against all Use of Forms and it occasions too many to neglect it which otherwise would not And as for Children and ignorant people amongst those of this Perswasion I am well assured many of them never bow their Knees in secret to God and several of those that are grown up are forced to speak aloud or cannot pray at all which is against the nature of secret Prayer and exposes not only the Persons that use it to the censure of Hypocrisy but the Duty to Contempt 'T is on this account that the pious Custom of Training up Young People to a constant course of Devotion in their morning and evening secret Prayers is too universally laid aside among you as I have found by experience and for the truth of the Observation I dare appeal to all of the Dissenters On the contrary I am well assured that there cannot be a more effectual or easy method to revive and continue this regular and constant use of secret prayers than to oblige every one to some certain Forms every Morning and Evening which they may not omit whatever other prayers they use But this can never be done whilst the opinion of
the following deduction 1. The Altar was of Old the Lord's Table from whence his Attendants were fed Mal. i. 7 Ye offer polluted Bread upon mine Altar and ye say Wherein have we polluted thee In that ye say The Table of the Lord is contemptible 2. On this account the Israelites came to the Altar and worshiped before it as being God's Table on which the Sacrifice was presented as his Meat of which they were permitted to partake So 2 Chron. vi 12 And he stood before the Altar of the Lord vers 13. And kneeled down on his knees And 1 Kings viii 54 He arose from before the Altar from kneeling on his knees Nor can it be said That this kneeling of Solomon was only because he offered up a Prayer at that time and that therefore he was in a praying posture for undoubtedly it was the Duty of all that were present at any Sacrifice to offer up prayers to God with the Sacrifice And accordingly we find it commanded 2 Kings xviii·22 Ye shall worship before this Altar in Jerusalem literally Ye shall bow down your selves 3. The Communion-Table is called the Lord's-Table 1 Cor. x. 21 4. The Israelites partaking of the Altar is proposed as an Example for our partaking of the Lord's Table 1 Cor. x. 16 The Cup of Blessing which we bless is it not the Communion of the Blood of Christ The Bread which we break is it not the Communion of the Body of Christ vers 18. Behold Israel after the Flesh Are not they which eat of the Sacrifices partakers of the Altar 5. In allusion to this Religious Eating with Bodily Worship it is Prophecied of our Saviour Psal. xxii 29 All they that be fat upon Earth that is the favoured and happy Servants of God here called in vers 26. The meek shall eat and Worship Since then the Scripture sets forth to us a Relious Eating at the Lords-Table with Worship and the Holy Communion is such an Eating at his Table it follows that the Scripture Warrants our Worshiping when we Eat 2. We are Commanded in Scripture to receive the Holy Eucharist In remembrance of Christ's death and by it we shew his death till he come The same Scriptures Command us to Worship our Saviour For he is the Lord and Worship thou him Psal. xlv 11 If ever then we are to Worship our Saviour it is certainly when we come to him in the nearest approaches that we are capable of in this World and with the highest sense of Gratitude that our Souls can admit of to remember and adore him for the greatest Act of love that could be extended towards us even laying down his Life for us and partake of the benefits thereof by feeding on him If it be not our duty to Worship him with our Bodies as well as our Minds on this occasion it is hard to say when we are obliged to do it This consideration prevail'd with the Protestant Church of Poland to oblige all their Members to receive kneeling or standing in Opposition to the Socinians who refused to pay any Worship to our Saviour and therefore Celebrated his Supper sitting The Words of their General Synod are these Corpus Confession p. 236. Quod attinet ad Caeremonias c. As to the Ceremonies of the Lord's-Supper the Decree some time ago discust in the Synod of Sandomir and the Conclusion made and repeated in the General Synod of Cracow and Petrokow is also approved in this Session of the Synod of Vladislaw vizt That sitting at the Lord's-Table shall not be used in any of the Churches of Poland or Lithuania c. of our Communion For this Ceremony tho' indifferent as others are is not used by the Christian and Reformed Churches and is proper to the Infidel Arrians only who place themselves in an equal Throne with the Lord. Since then sitting has crept into some of our Churches chiefly by the occasion and countenance of those who have miserably fallen from us and denied the Lord that bought us We intreat and exhort all those Congregations and our Brethren in the Lord that they would change sitting into the Ceremonies used by us Protestants in all the Reformed Churches of Europe even that the Lord's Supper may be administred to the Communicants standing or kneeling with a protestation against Bread-Worship used by the Papists both which Rites as they have been hitherto used in some Churches we leave free and approve without blaming or giving offence to those who use either This Synod was held June 19 th 1583. The Synod of Petrokow above mentioned held June 1.2.3 1578. pa. 234. expresses it self in these words Because those Traiterous Fugitives from us to Arianism who change all things in the Church pretending to imitate Christ without discretion were the first Authors amongst us of sitting at the Lord's Table contrary to the Rites used in all the Reformed Churches through Europe Therefore we reject this Ceremony as proper to them who treat as well Christ as his Sacraments irreverently as indecent and irreligious and very offensive to well meaning people It ought to be observed that this Church reckons Sitting a Ceremony and a Ceremony of an ill signification and Original and not used by any Protestant Church in their time IV. But I find most people acknowledge the reasonableness of this and grant if it were left to us how we wou'd Receive that we ought to do it with Adoration but say they Obedience is better then Sacrifice we are commanded to do what Christ did and he Instituted and his Disciples received it in a Table posture and therefore so ought we Notwithstanding the Scriptures Reason and Decency seem to recommend another posture to us Now to this Argument which is the only one I find brought from Scripture and which seems to prevail with most I answer 1. That we are not required nor is it convenient to imitate all that Christ did Neither the time nor the number of Receivers nor the posture being obligatory to us as appears from St. Paul 1 Cor xi 23. who having occasion to mention what he received of the Lord concerning this Sacrament mentions only our Saviour's taking Bread giving thanks and breaking it and then saying Take eat this is my Body c. without the circumstances of the number of Receivers his posture or being at supper Nay that we may not think that this had any relation to a common supper or the circumstances of it he observes that Supper was done when he took the Cup. Our Saviour's posture therefore whatever it was is no wise obligatory to us it not being any part of what St. Paul professes to have received from Christ concerning this Sacrament 2. I have already proved that Religious Eating was accompanied with Bodily Worship and therefore if it were granted that we were obliged to receive this Sacrament in a Table posture from the example of our Saviour yet it would not follow that we should not receive it kneeling