the Old Testament from the apostles at their first conversion but suddenly they could not be translated into every language and till they were translated they could not be read in the congregation unto edifying The books of the New Testament could not be delivered untill they were written but they were not written all at once and when they were all written being sent to severall churches it must be some time before they could be gathered together and translated And if nothing be allowable in the church but what was found in the primitive churches planted by the apostles by record of scripture I fear the reading of the scriptures in a known tongue must be cast out of the congregations I go not about to equalize stinted Liturgies with set translations of the holy scriptures but I would intreat such as oppose a stinted Liturgie by these reasons to consider whether they do not put weapons into the adversaries hands to fight against the scriptures Again set forms of catechismes publick or private composed by the minister or devised by others used with liberty to adde or alter as occasion requireth are no more commanded of God then set forms of prayer nor no more in use in the apostolick churches Christ our Saviour the Prophets or Apostles have no more appointed the one then the other if all parts of holy and spirituall worship may be performed without a stinted Liturgie they may be performed also without a stinted or set catechisme and if a set form of prayer must be disallowed a set form of catechisme publick or private composed by the minister or devised by others must be condemned also But the antiquity excellency and necessity of catechizing is known to them who are exercised in the building and governing of the house of God the use and profit of a set form therein is both manifest by reason and confirmed by experience at home and abroad in publick and private to them who have laboured to lay the foundation of Christian religion and train up the people committed to their charge in sound wisdome and understanding And in these things we swerve not from our pattern because we teach and professe the same doctrine and worship God with the same worship and substantiall means of worship that the primitive churches and Christians did There is the same reason of reading the Apocrypha books of Maccabees and those that follow them in the congregation and of reading a stinted form of Liturgie and the same reasons that silence the Apocrypha will silence stinted prayers as well and as much When we prove the lawfulnesse of a stinted form of prayer by the stinted forms of psalmes and blessing mentioned in scripture it is thought answer sufficient to say There is great difference betwixt blessings or psalmes and prayer and yet here it is enough to match things unlike together and to say of them without all proof There is the same reason of both But if it have any sinews it will silence the singing of psalmes sermons professions of faith and conceived prayer no lesse then stinted especially the use of notes to help memory and forms of catechisme by whomsoever and howsoever used For there is the same reason of reading and uttering by heart in the congregation And if nothing but the canonicall scriptures must be read in the congregation nothing must be uttered by heart or strength of memory but the scriptures alone But sermons professions of faith conceived prayer are not canonicall scripture The reason is one and whatsoever can be answered truly in the one will put the other to flight If it be said That it is the prerogative of the scripture to be the rule of faith and manners and therefore nothing is to be read in the congregation as the ground undoubted and immediate of faith and manners but the scripture alone this openeth way for stinted prayer as well as for sermons or conceived prayer The substantiall means of worship both publick and private are determined of God It is unlawfull to set up an image for worship either publick or private The scripture must be acknowledged the sole rule of faith and manners both in publick and private It is unlawfull to devise sacramentall signes in private as well as in the congregation And if it be unlawfull to reade any other book in the congregation because the reading of the scripture is the onely approved medium cultûs by the same reason all forms of catechismes and singing of psalmes and reading or use of stinted praiers in the family are unlawfull And if the one be an image in the congregation the others are so in the family When the Lord had devised and appointed a perfume saith the authour of the Letter all men are forbidden to make a composition like that perfume Exod. 30. 35 37. So if it could be proved that Christ had made a form for the churches and believers alwayes when they pray then the offering up of any other prayers made by others or of our own devising would seem to be as unlawfull as the offering of strange incense Exod. 30. 9. Where it is implyed that seeing God hath determined no certain form therefore forms devised by men are not necessary but lawfull In the same manner they may be answered from their own grounds That seeing God hath sanctified and set apart the canonicall scriptures given by immediate Divine inspiration to be the sole and perfect rule of faith and manners therefore the scripture alone must be read and acknowledged as the sole ground of heavenly instruction But seeing he hath determined no certain form of prayer or sermons professions of faith or thanksgiving therefore either none at all must be made or forms devised by men are lawfull to be heard in the congregation yet not as immediate and undoubted grounds of faith for that is proper to the scripture but as instructions and exhortations builded upon or petitions framed according to the scripture as present occasion doth require In sermons who doth not put a difference betwixt the text whereupon the discourse instructions exhortations rebukes comforts be grounded deduced the exhortations rebukes comforts which are propounded in method phrase of speech devised by men The first is ought to be canonicall scripture the other not so But it would argue great ignorance if not perversenesse if a man should cavill in this manner against the preaching of the word That the scriptures alone are to be read in the congregation therefore the minister of the Gospel must simply reade the scripture but never give the meaning nor make application In the Primitive church sundry councels have forbidden the reading of any books as parts of Divine worship but canonicall scripture onely of the Old and New Testament but no councel ever condemned the use of a stinted Liturgie Those churches which forbad the reading of any books which be without the canon did
and consented unto if it were possible by all the sound true orthodox churches in the world is in many respects expedient such a form as being free from all exception apprved of all might testifie their sweet harmonie and concent And the like may be said of forms of catechismes confessions c. A stinted form then of publick prayer is not one in common nature with images devised for worship nor opposite to the worship which must in speciall be instituted of God it is no vain or superfluous devise much lesse an humane invention condemned in the second commandment It is not strange at all that one and the same thing should be a sin in one and not in another If by the same thing you mean the same materially onely And if that which was lawfull to all people priests and Levites in the old Testament cannot be unlawfull now then neither circumcision nor any other Jewish rite is now unlawfull to us True it is that one and the same thing may be sin in one and not in another when the reasons and considerations be not the same as that which a man is bound to do by speciall calling or office may be sin in another which is not called and appointed pointed to that service And many things were lawfull in the old Testament being according to Gods word that are not so now viz. things that were proper and peculiar to them and those times in respect of the manner of dispensation Divine But things which have grounds and reasons common to those and our times in respect of persons and things and do not in peculiar respects belong unto them onely these if lawfull to them are lawfull to us and if forbidden to us they are forbidden to them And of this sort is a stinted form of prayer or blessing not peculiar to them but common to us with them not a priviledge of the persons but of the cause It is given for a rule concerning examples That a reason drawn from them doth necessarily conclude sc cùm unum particulare ab alio particulari probatur vi similitudinis communis toti generi sub quo ea particularia continentur But the publick use of a stinted free arbitrarie form of prayer praise or blessing is grounded upon reasons and considerations common to the priests or Levites and the ministers of the Gospel the things are like and this likenesse is common to the whole kind not materiall circumstance can be named which should appropriate it unto them onely Therefore if the publick stinted use of prayer or blessing was not a breach of the second commandment in them it is not a sin against that commandment in us It is objected that their forms were not as ours strictly imposed ordinarily to be used without so much as the variation of a word But this unlooseth not the knot but rather tyeth it the faster For if it be a sin against the second commandment to use such a form it must not be done once If it be no sin it is not made sinfull by this that it is used this week or the next as occasion is offered If it be lawfull to use the Lords prayer as a stinted form it is not made unlawfull that I use it in these precise words without addition or alteration And if the priests were not tyed to one precise form of blessing without addition or alteration yet might they lawfully use one form without addition or variation and that which was allowable in them is not unlawfull in us upon the same grounds and considerations So that we may summe up this reason thus If publick stinted forms of blessing prayer or praise might be used ordinarily by the priests Levites and ministers of the Gospel without addition or alteration then all stinted forms to be used ordinarily without addition or alteration be not a breach of the second commandment in common nature one with an image devised for worship But the priests and Levites in the time of the Law and the ministers of the Gospel in the New Testament might ordinarily use a stinted form without addition or alteration Or thus it may be framed If a publick stinted form of prayer be unlawfull then either simply and absolutely all stinted forms to be used in publick or such onely as are to be used ordinarily without alteration or addition or such onely as be corrupt and faulty But a publick stinted form is not simply and absolutely unlawfull for then this exception That it is to be used ordinarily and without alteration is vain and superfluous not onely because it is ordinarily to be used without alteration or addition for then that consideration taken away a stinted form should be just and lawfull as also then it should be lawfull at one time to use this or that phrase of speech unlawfull at another when yet the same occasion requireth it If onely because corrupt and faulty then a stinted form is not an humane invention a breach of the second commandment an idole-prayer a superfluous devise to be condemned then the fault and corruption removed the form it self is lawfull to be used without addition or variation A stinted form of prayer is not unlawfull to him that needeth it as not able largely to expresse his own desires or lay open his wants particularly but to him that is able and needeth it not it is unlawfull because in such case a set form of prayer is an arbitrary help or furtherance forbidden by the second commandment But then a set form of prayer in words devised by others or by a mans self is not unlawfull because stinted or devised not of it self nor to all but by accident onely Then it is not a devised worship strange incense an idole-prayer an image of prayer forbidden in the second commandment for whatsoever is verified of a generall as generall is verified of all underneath it Then they must not say Humane inventions in Gods worship are forbidden but Humane inventions in the worship of God are lawfull to them that need them unlawfull to them that need them not because arbitrarie Then the exception of using a stinted form ordinarily without alteration or addition is altogether fruitlesse for the form is unlawfull because arbitrarie And for the thing it self it is an unwritten tradition because it hath no ground in scripture For it is a received rule That all distinctions in Divinity not grounded upon the word of God are unwritten traditions indeed humane unwarrantable inventions and additions But this distinction That a stinted form of prayer is warrantable to him that needeth it because of his inability unwarrantable to him that needeth it not is grounded upon no text of scripture or solid consequence drawn from thence All arbitrarie helps and furtherances in Gods service are not forbidden in the second commandment nor any help or furtherance because arbitrarie in this sense that is no help or furtherance devised in Gods worship that
that councel that forbad vulgar psalmes in the service of God and those forms of service which are not antea probata in concilio vcl cum prudentioribus collata lest haply some things against faith either through ignorance or want of consideration should be composed That they never sought a razing of the communion-book but a filing of it after the pattern of that care which former examples set them wherein they thought some things reteined which might well have been spared They have evermore condemned voluntary Separation from the congregations and assemblies or negligent frequenting of those publick prayers They have ordinarily and constantly used the communion-book in their publick administrations and still mainteined unitie peace and love with them who in some particulars have been of another judgement All this is so notoriously known that it is wast labour to produce testimonies herein As for the reading of a stinted form it may be it is not constant in all reformed churches exacted of every minister at all times but that it is not used at all is more then I can credit and if they exact not the use of the same form continually the thing it self they greatly approve If any man desire an instance of their doings let him compare the prayer which Beza constantly used before and after sermon with the Geneva-book of common prayer And if they impose not their forms upon all congregations to be used of necessitie but leave it free to use them or some other in substance one and the same yet this is certain they disallow their opinion who condemn all stinted forms and Liturgies as vain superfluous humane inventions a strange worship and breach of the second commandment CHAP. VIII The people may lawfully be present at those prayers which are put up unto God in a stinted form of words and partake in divine ordinances administred in a stinted Liturgie THe authour of the Letter formerly cited telleth us That against our prayer-book divers men have pleaded after a different manner First some arguments saith he are proper to the Separatists quà tales viz. 1. That it is offered up in a false church 2. With a false ministery 3. In the behalf of the subjects of the kingdome of Antichrist These are properly theirs being the grounds whereupon they make a totall Separation from all the churches in this land as no churches of Christ These I approve not yet note them that you may see upon how different grounds the same position is mainteined by severall persons and that you may be delivered from the prejudice which hindreth many from receiving those truthes because they fear the reproch of Brownisme Secondly there are other grounds which are common to all that plead for the puritie of Christs ordinance and which do not necessarily inferre such Separation but onely serve to shew the unlawfulnesse of that practice and of communicating therein Thus farre the Letter Wherein to let passe other things we may take notice of a twofold Separation from the worship of God amongst us acknowledged the one totall as from a false church false ministery and subjects of the kingdome of Antichrist the other partiall from the stinted Liturgie and ordinances of worship dispensed in a stinted form And this latter onely is approved by this authour but not the former of which we make no question But whereas he saith his grounds upon which he buildeth his last Separation are common to all that plead for the puritie of Christs ordinances therein he is much mistaken For his grounds are one and the very same with the Brownists whereby they condemn all stinted Liturgies acknowledged by no reformed church in the world nor by particular pastours in any church but themselves And if they take not themselves to be the onely pleaders for the purity of Christs ordinances they cannot shew that these reasons have been approved or positions allowed by any pleaders for reformation in any time or age of the church The reasons brought to confirm the unlawfulnesse of communicating in the ordinances of worship amongst us administred in a stinted Liturgie are of two sorts Some condemne all stinted forms and Liturgies devised by men others concern our book of common prayer more particularly as it is charged with sundry faults and corruptions The first as they concern the ministers who make use of a stinted Liturgy have been examined already Now I come to examine them both as they concern the people and therefore lay down this proposition That in case it should be unlawfull in some respects for the minister of the Gospel or governour of the family to reade or pronounce without book a prescript form of prayer devised by another yet no reason can be shewed why it should be unwarrantable for the people child servant wife to be present at such prayers in the congregation or family I speak not of prayer for the matter erroneous and naught but stinted and read For if the matter be faultie the prayer is not good because conceived and if good and pure it is not made evil and hurtfull to the hearers because it is read First what letteth why the hearers heart may not follow a prescript form of words holy and good either in confession of sinnes request or thanksgiving What letteth I say that the hearers hearts may not profitably go with the same both to humble quicken and comfort The people child servant are commanded to examine and prepare themselves before they draw nigh into the presence of the Lord But where are they commanded to look whether the minister or governour do pray by the Spirit immediately or out of his memory in a set form of words conceived beforehand or suggested without premeditation in the same form of words ordinarily with little or no variation unlesse it be upon speciall occasion or in different order method and phrase euery day whether he reade his prayer or pronounce it onely And if God have laid no charge upon their conscience to inquire into these and such like particulars before they joyn in prayer voluntarily to withdraw our selves from the ordinances of worship in these respects what is it but to adde unto his word When things agreeable to the will of God are begged of God every day in the same form of words as the things begged are the same it is not either the stinted form of words or the presenting of requests by reading them upon a book that can make the prayer unprofitable much lesse abomination in respect of him that joyneth If the minister in that case pray coldly or without affection his sinne cannot hinder the blessing of God from the people If the governour be weak in naturall gifts as memory or utterance or spirituall as knowledge c the lawfull use of a stinted form in that case is not denyed by some as a needfull help to supply defect And if the governour to help his weaknesse make use of a stinted form whether
may the servant child or wife who conceit they need no such furtherance joyn with him in prayer or no If not I desire to know by what authoritie they may withdraw themselves If they may joyn then the heart prepared may follow a prescript form of words devised by others To reade our prayers out of a book is to draw nigh unto God with the lips when the heart is removed farre from him because it is not to draw and poure forth our prayers out of the heart by the holy Ghost A man may both reade his prayers out of a book and poure them forth out of his heart as hath been formerly proved and is confessed by them that allow a prescript form in case of need For they will not say It is lawfull to draw nigh unto God with the lips when the heart must needs be removed from him But if this be granted for the present which is most false I demand whether it be a drawing nigh with the lips onely in respect of him alone that readeth the stinted form or of all present Not of all present For how can it be said that their hearts are removed from God who in sincerity and truth of heart desire the obteining of what is prayed for agreeable to the will of God Hypocrisie hath lost its ancient nature if it be hypocrisie to draw nigh to the throne of grace in the name of Christ with understanding confidence and uprightnesse If it be a lip-labour in respect of him that readeth it onely it can be no sufficient ground of Separation in others For in conceived prayer the minister or governour may pray with the lips and voice when the heart is absent and they that joyn may pray in truth when the prayer is uttered or pronounced in a prescribed form An hypocrite cannot call upon God in uprightnesse at any time and yet they will not say it is unlawfull to joyn in prayer with such a man Put case a particular man did know his minister to be an hypocrite by more certain evidence then possibly he can know read prayer to be lip-labour yet he is bound in conscience not to separate from the publick prayers or ordinances of grace administred by such a man For Christ hath commanded us to come unto him hath promised to be present with them that assemble together in his name to heare them that in truth call upon his name and though an hypocrite shall not be heard for himself he may be heard for others A minister he is not for his own goods but his administration is effectuall to the heirs of salvation Formally as some speak he hath not pardon of sinne for the comfort of his own soul but ministerially instrumentally he hath it for the benefit of others that is hee possesseth not the promise of pardon for his own comfort but he bringeth it for the good of others A Christian may not absent himself from the publick prayers of the congregation and ordinances of grace unlesse Christ hath given him leave or commandment so to do but when he may call upon God purely and sincerely he hath not given a Christian leave to separate or withdraw himself because he conceiteth the minister to be an hypocrite But of this more hereafter Let us then imagine if fansie can be so strong that the use of a stinted prayer is but lip-labour in the minister or governour what else can follow but that the service is lawfull the lip-labour being corrected which is done not by Separation but by conjoyning the service and affection of the heart and inward man with the exercise of the outward Reading is not prayer For in prayer we poure out desires and supplications from the heart in reading we let into the heart the things that are read A blind man may pray but he cannot reade He that readeth speaketh not to God but to the people To reade is not to pray but in reading a man may pray agreeable to the ordinance with right affection of soul As to pronounce is not to pray because a dumbe man may pray who cannot speak but when a man uttereth his prayer for the edification of others he himself may and doth speak unto God But if this be presupposed that a man cannot both reade a prayer and pray himself what hindreth that others cannot lift up their hearts unto God and joyn in requests according to the prescript form of words Is not the matter fit because it is prescribed cannot the heart desire or lift up it self because the requests are read doth the very act of reading pollute the whole action If all things essentially required in prayer may be observed of them that joyn in prayer with such as reade them then the simple act of reading is not sufficient cause why Christians should withdraw themselves But all things essentiall to prayer may be observed of them that joyn in prayer with such as reade the matter may be fit sound and holy the affections goods and so the work acceptable unto the Lord. The monuments of antiquity shew that the Jews used a stinted form of Liturgie and prayer in their synagogues and at the celebration of the passeover before the dayes of our Saviour Christ But our Saviour Christ never taught the people to absent themselves from the prayers of the synagogues or from the passeover rather he commanded them to frequent the assemblies and observe the passeover wherein he himself did give example ordinarily resorting to the synagogues upon the sabbaths and observing the passeover at the time appointed It is not certain that the Jews had or used a stinted form of Liturgie or prayer in their synagogues or the celebration of the passeover It is not certain by certainty of Divine faith for it is not testified in the holy scripture but by humane testimony it is so probable that even such as deny all lawfull use of a stinted form do give their assent hereunto as hath been shewed before The Jews did not prescribe and set apart their prayers for publick use as our Liturgie is neither were they tied to them as we are but left to use or not use them as they saw most fit for edification Bring this answer to the light and it yieldeth the cause as fully as can be desired For if the Jews had or used a stinted Liturgie in their synagogues and celebration of the passeover devised by others when the faithfull did lawfully resort to the synagogues and observe the passeover administred according to that form then the faithfull may and ought to joyn in prayer or participation of Divine ordinances though administred in a stinted Liturgie devised by others It is to no purpose to alledge that that form was not set apart for publick use nor they necessarily tied unto it when the simple use of such a stinted form devised by others is condemned as unlawfull in respect of minister and
and not to give that honour unto Jesus Christ or to give it unto any other is a breach of the first commandment It is true that inward and outward worship both when they are both of one nature or kind are required in the first precept as if I must pray unto God in the mediation of Jesus Christ or pray unto Jesus Christ mine onely Saviour I may kneel or prostrate my self or bow my body in the exercise of religion and these actions must be referred to the same commandment It is also true that the second commandment reacheth to the heart and requireth that we rightly conceive of allow approve and affect the ordinances of instituted worship appointed of God as well as exercise and maintein it but seeing the worship it self commanded is instituted it is also outward Besides there be some things of mere nstitution which pertein to the third and fourth commandments as the institution and observation of the seventh day from the creation in time of the Law and of the first day in the week in time of the Gospel M r Jacob himself saith The fourth commandment in the word Sabbath setteth down one particular even the ordinary seventh day of rest but understandeth all holy dayes instituted of God that they are likewise to be sanctified By his own confession then all instituted doctrines and ordinances are not referred to the second commandment The just and true generall matter of the second commandment is a free and voluntary institution or matter instituted onely or specially in the exercise of Gods worship wherein it hath no way any necessary use of it self This is the generall matter or full extent of the second commandment even in the mind and purpose of God himself the authour of it And it is likewise the just and full definition of Gods instituted worship in generall that is whether true or false This is obscure and doubtfull If the meaning be that all instituted or positive worship of God which carrieth the Lords stamp and approbation must be referred to this commandment and that all worship devised by men for nature use and end one with the worship instituted of God is a breach of the second commandment it will be granted freely and might have been delivered plainly But if the meaning be that all free and voluntary institutions whatsoever must be referred to the second commandment if of God as just and allowable if of men as sinfull it hath no ground of truth or probability For many free institutions cannot be referred to the second commandment and concerning the instituted worship of God God hath left many things undetermined wherein the church may take order and give direction without sinne unto what commandment soever in generall the things may be referred The Lord forbidding to bow down unto or serve an image doth therein forbid all approbation liking or reverence though never so small shewed towards any institutions and inventions of men set up in the room of or matched with the Lords own instituted worship But an invention for nature and use one with the true worship of God and an institution in the exercise of religion are not one and the same There ought to be very clear and plain proof in Gods word to warrant every visible church if the members thereof desire to have comfort to their own souls because this is even the first and weightiest matter in religion that can concern us viz. to be assured that we are in a true visible and ministeriall church of Christ For out of a true visible church ordinarily there is no salvation and by a true visible church and not otherwise ordinarily we come to learn the way of life Therefore above all things it is necessary that every Christian do rightly discern of the divers kinds of outward ordinances in this behalf chiefly of visible churches and withall to understand which kind or form thereof is the true visible church of Christ or kingdome of heaven upon earth which is the onely way and in it the onely truth ordinarily leading to eternall life hereafter For the true visible church of Christ is but onely one questionlesse in nature form and constitution There are expresse and pregnant texts of scripture which shew what is the true visible church of God whereunto Christians may and ought to joyn themselves in holy fellowship in the ordinances of worship As where the covenant of God is there is the people of God and the visible church For communication and receiving the tables of the covenant is a certain signe of a people in covenant For what is it to be the flock sheep or people of God but to be in covenant with God to be the church of God The word maketh disciples to Christ and the word given to a people is Gods covenanting with them and the peoples receiving this word and professing their faith unto God is their taking God to be their God Those assemblies which have Christ for their Head and the same also for their foundation are the true visible churches of Christ It is simply necessary that the assemblies be laid upon Christ the foundation by faith which being done the remaining of what is forbidden or the want of what is commanded cannot put the assembly from the title and right of a church For Christ is the foundation and head-corner-stone of the church The form is coming unto Christ and being builded upon him by faith the matter is the people united and knit unto Christ and so one unto another Now where the matter and form of a church is there is a church Every society or assembly professing the intâ—re and true faith of Christ and worshipping God with an holy worship joyning together in prayer and thanksgiving enjoying the right use of the sacraments and keeping the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace is the true church of Christ The Gospel may be preached to Infidels some supernaturall truths may be professed by hereticks the use of the sacraments may be in adulterate churches but the intire profession of all fundamentall articles of faith to be believed and main precepts and morall laws for practice to be acknowledged the dwelling of the truth amongst men and the right use of the sacraments which is ever joyned with true doctrine and to be esteemed by it is proper to them that be in covenant with God The laws and statutes which God gave to Israel was the honour and ornament of that nation a testimony that the Lord had separated them from all other people even the Gentiles themselves being judges This is your wisedome and your understanding in the sight of the people He gave his law unto Jacob his statutes and ordinances unto Israel Thou gavest them right judgements and true laws ordinances and good commandments Who received the lively oracles to give unto us They have Moses and the Prophets Sound doctrine