here in same latitude 3ly If any large expressions were used in our Liturgy concerning wicked men they might be justifyed by our Lords Parable which calls the man who had not on his wedding garment friend Matt. 22.12 because by coming to the wedding supper he professed himself a Friend by his saying to the Traytor Judas Matt. 26.50 friend wherefore art thou come when he professed friendship to him by a Kiss by St. Paul's saying to the Church of Corinth 1 Cor. 12.27 that they were the body of Christ and members in particular and to the Galatians Gal. 3.26 27 28. ye are all the sons of God by faith in Christ Jesus for as many as are baptised into Christ have put on Christ you are all one in Christ Jesus and many other like expressions Object 2 2ly It is objected that the Apostle Paul setting out a meet Form of Congregational Praises and by proportion of Prayers also sheweth that it is the will of the God of Order that for orders sake one should be as the mouth of the Congregation to speak for them and from them to the Lord and the rest give their assent by yielding their Amen to what is spoken by him but the Common-Prayer Book proceeding much in another Form ordereth all the people syllabically to repeat many petitions after the Minister as if they did not acknowledge him to be their mouth to God Thus also do the Presbyterian Commissioners except P. 4. desiring that the repetitions and responsals of the Clerk and People may be omitted the Minister being appointed for the people in all publick services appertaining to God and the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testament intimating the peoples part in publick prayers to be only with silence and reverence to attend thereunto and to declare their consent in the close by saying Amen Answ 1 That the Apostle sheweth that it is the will of God that one should so be the mouth of the Congregation in her Prayers and Praises as that the rest should only say Amen cannot be proved for in the place referred to viz. 1 Cor. 14.16 the Apostle only intimates that at least the Idiot should say Amen not that he may never say more 2ly He speaketh there not of the ordinary service to be continued always in the Church but of extraordinary Prayers and Blessings performed by the gift of tongues to which indeed it was impossible the people who were not inspired as the speaker was should do more than say Amen as in prescribed Forms they may 3ly that this was not the only Form for Congregational Praises is evident because they had their Tehillim or Psalms of Praises which they sang together 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Eph. 5.19 saith Paul sibi invicem canentes saith Pliny singing one to and with another Answ 2 Though in those parts of Liturgy which are imployed in benediction consecration or administration of the Sacraments or in the exercise of the power of the Keys it is reasonable that the people should not bear a share because all these are acts appropriated to the Ministerial Office yet do I see no reason why they who are to join with the Minister in Prayer and who are a spiritual Priesthood 1 Pet. 2.5 9. to offer such spiritual Sacrifices to God should bear no share in uttering any part thereof to signifie the joint consent and union of their Spirits with him in that duty but rather much to plead in favour of the custom of our Church 1. From examples of such Responsals and Petitions occasionally used in the Jewish Church for as the Psalmist in the general doth call upon all men to exalt Gods name together so Psal 34.3 though the Levites were appointed to sing in the Publick Service yet did the people also praise the Lord and say For his mercy endureth for ever 2 Chron. 7.3 Moreover De vita Mosis l. 3. Philo Judaeus doth inform us that the Song of Miriam was uttered 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with alternate melodies and the words in the Seventy plead fairly for the same for thus they run 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Exod. 15.21 and Miriam began unto them saying Let us sing and of the Essenes he saith Euseb Hist Eccles l. 2. c. 17. p. 57. vid. Philon de vit contempl non procul à fine That the President of them standing up sung an Hymn composed in praise of God and after him did others 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in their orders in convenient manner and when they come unto the close of the Hymns 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 then all both Men and Women sing together So of Judith it is said Judith 16.1 That she began her Confession to all Israel 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and all the people sang after her the same Song 2. Because this practice hath obtained from the purest Ages of the Church this custom being introduced saith Socrates L. 6. c. 8. by the great Ignatius did universally obtain on which account Eusebius concludeth of the Essenes Ibid. that they must be Christians because they sang by turns answering one another 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Orat. 3. p. 107. And Gregory Nazianzen saith That Julian the Apostate in imitation of the Christians did appoint among the Heathens 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Form of Prayer to be said in parts Moreover in the Constitutions stiled Apostolical we find this injunction 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 l. 2. c. 57. l. 8. c. 5. that one should sing the Psalms of David and that the people should sing after the ends of the verses that they should all answer and with thy Spirit that they should servently pray for those that are baptized thus Lord have mercy upon them Cap. 8. Save them O God and lift them up by thy mercy that when the Priest hath said Cap. 12. lift up your hearts they should Answer We lift them up unto the Lord when he saith Let us give thanks unto the Lord they should Answer Adding that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ep. 63. ad Cler. Neocaes It is meet and right so to do that they should all say Holy Holy Holy Lord God of hosts Heaven and Earth is full of thy Glory that when the Bishop said Holy things to holy persons they should all Answer There is one Holy one Lord one Jesus Christ to the Glory of God the Father blessed for evermore Amen St. Basil tells us That in his time they did 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sing alternately and then permitting one to begin the melody 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the rest sing after him Athanasius Apol. de suga p. 717. that he commanded the Deacon to read the Psalm and the people to Answer For his mercy endureth for ever Sozomen saith that they who were skilful l. 5. c. 19. were Praecentors 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and that the multitude answered by consent And lastly Chrysostom
had all the plausible pretences which have prevailed on our Dissenting Laity to make an Actual Separation to move them so to do Inf. 2. §. 12. Hence it will also follow that great Corruptions in the Lives of our Church-Pastors will not warrant our separation from Communion with them or our Refusal to attend upon their Teaching provided we be not enjoyned to allow of or to comply with them in their sins Our Saviour sent the Leper to the Priest to offer by his Hands the accustomed Sacrifices altho the Priesthood then was much degenerated both in its Office and in the manners of those who ministred at the Altar we find that Christ himself was present at their solemn Feasts and therefore did not come empty which the Law forbad but brought his Sacrifice and by so doing owned their Priesthood he was a Member of a Synagogue and so he joyned in the Service of their Synagogues upon the Sabbath and upon other Solemn Days and yet their own Josephus tells us that the whole Jewish Nation were then a very wicked people they were saith truth it self an Evil Wicked and Adulterous Generation The Teachers and the Rulers of the Church whom Christ commands the multitude and his Disciples to obey in all things lawful Matt. 2.7.12.34 Matt. 5.19 Matt. 6.23.7 8. Matt. 12.14 v. 24. were a Generation of Vipers they were such whose Righteousness could not qualifie any Person for the Kingdom of God They were Hypocritical and Vainglorious in their Prayers Alms and Fastings They consulted how they might destroy the Saviour of the World They were many of them guilty of Blasphemy against the Holy Ghost Matt. 23 13. v. 14. v. 15. v. 23. They shut up the Kingdom of Heaven against Men. They devoured Widows Houses out of pretense of Piety They made their Prosclytes ten times more the Children of the Devil then themselves They neglected the more weighty Matters of the Law They were full of Extortion Covetousness Excess And yet from the Communion of such Men our Lord himself and his Disciples did not separate in matters which concerned Gods Publick Worship he called none to come out from them and be separate but rather countenanced their hearing of them with Caution and Discretion which shews how groundless and unwarrantable a thing it is to separate from our Legal Pastors upon these accounts Hence 3ly Inf. 3. §. 13. we infer that it is lawful to comply with such Churches as enjoyn some significant Ceremonies not mentioned in the Word of God for the sake of Peace Order Unity and the avoiding of Scandal to submit unto them when by Authority they are imposed for this we find our Saviour and his Apostles did he ate the Passover prepared according to the Custom of the Jews and so he did partake of that thick Sawce which signifyed the thick Clay which they in Aegypt formed into Brick he ate the Passover in such a Posture as was used by the Jews to signify their Rest and their Security in the Good Land of Canaan He when he went into the Temple did put off his Shoes altho that Ceremony was used to signify their Reverence toward the Temple or to that God who dwelt in it he did not go into the Temple with a Staff or Scrip but did comply with all the Ceremonies enjoyned by the Jewish Sanhedrin to those who dayly came unto it He when he read the Law stood up as was enjoyned by the Jews in honour of the Law and when he taught the people he constantly sate down according to the Custom which had then obtained The Imposition of hands in their ordinary Benediction was a significant Ceremony Mark 10.16 it noted properly the Efficacy of the Divine Blessing the Hand being the instrument of Force and Vigor it was done also in Testimony of Gods Favor to them and yet that Ceremony was by our Lord observed in his Benediction of the little Children which were brought to him tho it was not commanded in the Law of Moses Inf. 4. §. 14. Hence 4ly we infer that it is not unlawful to use a publick Form of Prayer and that the using of such Forms can be no sinful sâ—inâ—â—â—â—g of the Spirit For our Lord scrupled not the Time the Number the Form the Matter of the Jewish Prayers both he and his Disciples were present at the 18 Prayers used in the publick Service of the Jews And he himself prescribed a Form of Prayer to be used by his Disciples He therefore did not think that his own Spirit was stinted by using of a Form or that he stinted the Spirit of his own Disciples by prescribing of it and yet Christ and his own Disciples when they attended on these Prayers had a more plentiful Effusion of the Holy Spirit then we can pretend to Hence also we conclude that we stand not obliged in all Punctilios of Time Inf. 5. §. 15. or Place or Gesture to follow the Example of the first Institution of the H. Sacrament of the Lords Supper For albeit a standing Posture was prescribed at the first Institution of the Passover and every Master of a Family by the same Institution was to keep up his Lamb four days before the Passover yet Christ complyed with the Custom of the Jewish Church which for prudential Reasons laid aside or changed these Customs Even so altho Christ celebrated the Sacrament after Supper and albeit he did it in a posture of Recumbency we do not stand obliged to conform unto these Circumstances they being done upon such grounds as do not now remain for we have now no Paschal Supper to be eaten before the Sacrament nor is it the Custom of our Nations to lye down on Couches when we eat nor have we any cause to do it in token of our Rest in Canaan And if we are obliged to use that very Gesture which our Saviour did why are we not as much obliged to the same time I mean not only after Supper but annually on the same Night in which our Saviour was betrayed why are we not as much obliged to receive in the same place viz. an Inn or in an Upper-chamber And lastly tho it be unquestionable that in the Primitive Institution Wine was mixt with Water for so the Primitive Christians testify and so the Hebrew Custom and their Canons teach and albeit this seems more fit to represent that Water and that Blood which issued from our Saviours Side yet because now it ceaseth to be the Custom to drink Wine mixt with Water Laightf Temp. Serv. p. 147. few scruple to receive it without such a Mixture and therefore on like grounds and from our Saviours Aphorism I will have Mercy and not Sacrifice I think we should not scruple to baptise by sprinkling altho our Lords Disciples did baptize by dipping and that more perfectly doth represent that Death of Christ into which saith St. Paul we are baptized and the ensuing Resurrection Inf.
return unto their former use the Superstition and Idolatry adhering to them being first removed Answ 3 4ly Seeing all Superstition and Idolatry in persons who do ignorantly commit them doth fundamentally require a mistake in the conception of the person guilty of it these vices can no longer cleave unto such actions than this mistake remains when then the action is freed from the superstitious opinion or mistake it is also purged from all Superstition and Idolatry since therefore the Imposers of our Ceremonies have purged them from all those mistaken Doctrines and opinions of the Church of Rome which made them Superstitious and Idolatrous they cannot be abused to those ends Now when the Idolatry and Superstition or the abuse adhering to an action is totally removed there remains nothing which can make that action unlawful to be done and therefore nothing which can render it unlawful in it self to be required to be done Since then we are only commanded to depart from Babylon Rev. 18.4 that we partake not with her in her sins and so no farther than is requisite for the avoidance of Communion with her in sin when we have purged these actions from all those Superstitions and Idolatries which adhered to them as they were exercised in that Church we have done all that Christ and his good Spirit thought needful to require of us in respect to our departure out of Babylon Answ 4 5ly Whereas 't is said in the Objection that things abused to Superstition if they be not necessary must not be done I Answer That tho it be not necessary to impose our Ceremonies yet when they are imposed by Authority they become necessary in their use and so are not to be accounted things unnecessary in respect of us For if Temples Bells Fonts Desks and other sacred Utensils shall be preserved as necessary because as the Dissenter saith so much Money is spared to other good uses why are not our Ceremonies more necessary to us in their use seeing upon submission to them depends the maintenance of many Ministers and their Families the obedience of the King and his Laws Civil and Ecclesiastilcal the peace of the Church of Christ and the free Preaching of the Gospel which sure are things more necessary than the sparing of our Purses Wherefore to give a positive and a perspicuous Answer to the Objected Texts I say 1. That the things in which the Jewish Nation are forbid to do after the manner of the Canaanites or the Aegyptians are either Idolatrous Actions and Ceremonies or actions contrary to the service of God or else things tending to Idolatry Thus Exod. 23.24 thou shalt not do after the works of the Canaanites is a command not to bow down to their Gods and serve them but to overthrow them utterly and quite break down their Images and then it follows v. 25. ye shall serve the Lord your God the works forbidden therefore by that Phrase were contrary to the service of God And v. 33. the reason of this Prohibition is thus given for if thou serve their Gods it will surely be a snare unto thee So again Levit. 18.3 After the doings of the Land of Aegypt wherein you dwell shall you not do neither shall you walk in their ordinances Why Because as Ainsworth well observes Aegypt was an Idolatrous Land and there Israel had been defiled Ezek. 20.8 they Rebel'd against me saith God they did not every Man cast away the abominations of his Eyes neither did they forsake the Idols of Aegypt Ezek. 23.8 and of the Land of Canaan God saith unto them Levit. 20.23 Ye shall keep my Statutes and Judgments to do them ye shall not walk in the manners of the Nations which I cast out before you for they committed all these things and therefore I abhor'd them So that to do after the doings of the Land of Canaan is to do contrary to Gods Judgments and Statutes and to commit the abominable things which they did and this is so evident through the whole Chapter that he who runs may read it For 1. The reason why God forbids them to do after the manner of Aegypt and Canaan is this I am the Lord your God v. 2. 2ly The opposite command is this v. 4 5. Ye shall do my Judgments and keep my Ordinances to walk therein I am the Lord your God ye shall therefore keep my Statutes and my Judgments I am the Lord. And v. 26. Ye shall therefore keep my Statutes and Judgments and shall not commit any of these Abominations And again v. 30. Therefore shall ye keep mine Ordinance that ye commit not any of the Abominable Customs which were committed before you that you defile not your selves therein I am the Lord your God 3ly You shall not do so to the Lord your God Deut. 12.4 is in effect you shall not Worship God by those Idolatrous Images by which the Canaanites Worshipped their Gods but you shall hew down the Graven Images of their Gods v. 3. you shall not Worship him on their Altars or in their Groves but you shall overthrow their Altars and break their Pillars and burn their Groves with fire v. 3. and you shall Worship God in the place that he shall chuse v. 5. and this is very evident from v. 30.31 wheâ—â— God speaks thus unto them thou shalt not enquire after their Gods saying how did these Nations serve their Gods even so will I do likewise thou shalt not do so unto the Lord thy God for every abomination to the Lord which he hateth have they done unto their Gods So that in all these places to do after the manner of the Heathens which is the thing forbidden is to do after their Idolatrous or their unnatural and unclean Rites in opposition to the Laws Statutes and Judgments of the Lord And this is farther evident from 2 Kings 17.15 where God Complains that his People rejected his Statutes and his Covenant that he made with their Fathers and his Testimonies and they followed vanities and became vain and went after the Heathen round about them concerning whom the Lord had charged them that they should not do like them So that to do like them was to follow vanity and become vain that is Idolaters as that Phrase plainly signifies in Holy Scripture and so it is expounded in the following verse by making Molten Images and the two Calves and Groves and Worshipping the Host of Heaven and serving Baal 4ly To name the name of other Gods which is forbidden Exod. 23.13 is only not to own to worship or enter into covenant with them and in particular not to swear by them so that phrase seems to signifie Psalm 16.4 their sorrows shall be multiplyed that hasten after another God their drink offerings of Blood will I not offer nor take up their names upon my Lips i.e. I will not forsake thee by partaking with them in their abominable Sacrifices who serve other Gods nor by swearing by the name of
Such also was undoubtedly the gift vouchsafed to Timothy such were prophecy teaching exhortation 1 Cor. 12.10 29.14.3 such also was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ministry for the Deacons were to be men full of the Holy Ghost and Wisdom Acts 6.3 and they most likely are the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 helps mentioned among spiritual gifts 1 Cor 12.28 and if so all these places must be impertinently alledged to prove that ordinary gifts may not be stinted Answ 3 These precepts cannot rationally be supposed to enjoin the use of any of these gifts farther than may consist with order and edification the peace and union of the Church and with subjection to the Prophets and then they cannot so enjoyn their exercise as to disturb her order peace and union and to oppose our selves to the prescriptions of her Prophets especially considering that the Church doth not wholly lay restraint upon the use of this supposed gift no not in publick but doth permit us to exercise it in our Prayers before and after Sermon Object 4 4ly It is objected thus That God promised under the Gospel times to pour out upon his people the Spirit of grace and supplication Zech. 12.10 and such a Spirit being given as are all the gifts of God for the edification of the Church must not be hindred Answ 1 There is no certain evidence that God here speaketh any thing of Prayer for what we render supplication is by divers Interpreters the Chaldee Paraphrast the Septuagint the Syriack and Arabick Versions agreeably to the derivation of the word rendred mercies and compassions by others the spirit of lamentation Answ 2 There is no evidence that God here promiseth the gift of praying fluently by the immediate assistance of the Holy Spirit for the effect of what is promised here is not Spiritual Hymns or Prayers not that they shall fluently express themselves in prayer but that they shall look on him whom they have pierced and shall mourn so that men may with equal reason argue hence for extemporary sorrow and against such considerations as serve to work this sorrow in us as for extemporary prayer and against such considerations as may prepare us to put up our addresses duly to the God of Heaven Answ 3 There is no evidence that if the Spirit of prayer be promised here this promise doth respect our Age and men may argue with equal reason from the promise made by Joel Joel 2.28 that in the latter days God would pour out his spirit upon all flesh c. that we may now expect Prophetick Visions Dreams and Prophesyings as from this promise of the Prophet Zechary that we may now expect the miraculous assistance of Gods Spirit in prayer Object 5 It is said 1 Cor. 14 15. I will pray with the spirit § 2 now though there is no shadow of an Argument in these words to countenance extemporary prayer yet may it be useful for undeceiving some of our Dissenters to observe 1. That there was when this Epistle was endited a spiritual gift of prayer which Christians exercised in their Assemblies by the immediate assistance and operation of the Holy Spirit For the Apostle in the 12th Chapter of this Epistle propounds to treat touching spiritual gifts beginning of his treatise thus concerning spiritual gifts 1 Cor. 12.1 Brethren I would not have you ignorant and this discourse he carries on to the end of the 14th Chapter where in the 15th v. we read these words I will pray with the spirit I will pray with the understanding also to pray then with the spirit is to pray with this spiritual gift for of those Gifts the Apostle speaketh in the whole discourse and forasmuch as he applyeth this spiritual gift to prayer saying I will pray with the spirit 't is certain he affirms that there was then a spiritual gift in the Church enabling them to whom it was given to pray in words suggested by the holy spirit or to make and utter upon the sudden a new prayer suiting the condition of the then present Church of God 2ly It is extremely evident that praying with the spirit then was using of the gift of tongues in prayer as is apparent from these words if I pray with an unknown tongue my spirit prayeth v. 14. i. e. my spiritual gift is exercised And 2ly because the Idiot could not say Amen to him that prayed by the spirit because he understood not what he said v. 16. 3ly From these words of the Apostle I speak with tongues more than you all and yet had rather speak five words in the Church with my understanding that I might teach others than ten thousand words in an unknown tongue v. 18 19. Moreover that it was also praying what he understood not is evident 1. Because praying with the understanding is opposed to it 2. Because the mind of him who prayed by the Spirit was unfruitful v. 14. 3. V. 13. Because he is bid to pray that he may interpret if then Dissenters desire thus to pray let them do it let us hear them pray in unknown tongues and when they do so they will only pray after the Roman manner disapproved of by St Paul who commands such persons to be silent in the Church vers 28. 3ly When this Spiritual Gift was exercised the Apostle plainly saith that it was better to pray with the understanding i. e. with words that might be understood by others than to pray with this spiritual Gift V. 19.28 where there was no Interpreter and in that case commands them who enjoined this Gift to keep silence in the Church And hence it follows unavoidably that in some cases it was not only lawful but even necessary in order to edification that they should stint this Gift if therefore the immediate operations of the Holy Spirit may be stinted in the Church much more the Gift of Elocution Moreover these Gifts were to be stinted by a Revelation made to another person vers 30 by subjection to the Prophets vers 32. by the Rules of order vers 33 40. and they were to give place to Charity and the edification of the Church vers 1 4 12. if therefore Charity Edification Order were to be preferr'd before these Gifts of the Good Spirit much more should Charity the Peace the Vnion the Order of the Church prevail to cut off our pretences to the exercising of this meanest of all Gifts if blessed Paul so undervalued that Praying by the Spirit which was the fruit of his immediate assistance that he preferred Edifying the Church a thousand degrees beyond it I suppose he would have preferred the edification of the Church before that Praying by the Spirit which men usually learn and do obtain to by the help of Dr. Wilkins's Discourse upon the Gift of Prayer Now sure 't is matter of concern towards the Edification of the Church to obey Superiors to preserve Peace Order Union in the Church as much as may be to consent