Preface to the Reader

It is altogether needless to premise anything in this place, concerning the necessity, benefit and use of prayer in general. All men will readily acknowledge, that as without it there can be no religion at all, so the life and exercise of all religion does principally consist therein. Wherefore that way and profession in religion, which gives the best directions for it, with the most effectual motives unto it, and most abounds in its observance, has therein the advantage of all others. Hence also it follows, that as all errors which either pervert its nature, or countenance a neglect of a due attendance unto it, are pernicious in religion; so differences in opinion, and disputes about any of its vital concerns cannot but be dangerous, and of evil consequence. For on each hand, these pretend unto an immediate regulation of Christian practice in a matter of the highest importance unto the glory of God, and the salvation of the souls of men. Whereas therefore there is nothing more requisite in our religion, than that true apprehensions of its nature and use be preserved in the minds of men, the declaration and defense of them, when they are opposed or unduly traduced, is not only justifiable but necessary also.

This is the design of the ensuing discourse. There is in the Scripture a promise of the Holy Ghost to be given unto the church as a Spirit of grace and supplications. As such also, there are particular operations ascribed unto him. Mention is likewise frequently made of the aids and assistances which he affords unto believers in and unto their prayers. Hence they are said to pray always, with all prayer and supplications in the Spirit. Of the want of these aids and assistances to enable them to pray according to the mind of God, some do profess that they have experience, as also of their efficacy unto that end when they are received. Accordingly these regulate themselves in this whole duty, in the expectation or improvement of them. And there are those who, being accommodated with other aids of another nature, to the same purpose, which they esteem sufficient for them, do look on the former profession and plea of an ability to pray by the aids and assistances of the Holy Spirit, to be a mere empty pretense.

And in the management of these different apprehensions, those at variance seem to be almost barbarians one to another, the one being not able to understand what the other do vehemently affirm. For they are determined in their minds, not merely by notions of truth and falsehood, but by the experience which they have of the things themselves; a sense and understanding whereof they can by no means communicate unto one another. For whereas spiritual experience of truth, is above all other demonstrations unto them that do enjoy it; so it cannot be made an argument for the enlightening and conviction of others. Hence those who plead for prayer by virtue of supplies of gifts and grace from the Holy Spirit, do admire that the use or necessity of them herein should be contradicted. Nor can they understand what they intend, who seem to deny, that it is every man's duty in all his circumstances, to pray as well as he can, and to make use in his so doing, of the assistance of the Spirit of God. And by prayer they mean that, which the most eminent and only proper signification of the word does denote, namely, that which is vocal. Some, on the other side, are so far from the understanding of these things, or a conviction of their reality, that with the highest confidence they despise and reproach the pretense of them. To pray in the Spirit is used as a notable expression of scorn; the thing signified being esteemed fond and contemptible.

Moreover in such cases as this, men are apt to run into excesses in things and ways, which they judge expedient, either to countenance their own opinions, or to depress and decry those of them from whom they differ. And no instances can be given in this kind of greater extravagancies, than in that under consideration. For hence it is, that some do ascribe the original of free prayer amongst us by the assistance of the Spirit of God, unto an invention of the Jesuits; which is no doubt, to make them the authors of the Bible. And others do avow that all forms of prayer used amongst us in public worship, are mere traductions from the Roman breviaries and missal. But these things will be afterwards spoken unto. They are here mentioned only to evince the use of a sedate inquiry into the truth or the mind of God in this matter, which is the design of the ensuing discourse.

That which should principally guide us in the management of this inquiry, is, that it be done unto spiritual advantage and edification, without strife or contention. Now this cannot be without a diligent and constant attendance unto the two sole rules of judgment herein, namely, Scripture-revelation and the experience of them that do believe. For although the latter is to be regulated by the former; yet where it is so, it is a safe rule unto them in whom it is. And in this case, as in water, face answers unto face; so do Scripture revelation and spiritual experience unto one another. All other reasonings from customs, traditions, and feigned consequences, are here of no use. The inquiries before us are concerning the nature of the work of the Holy Spirit in the aids and assistances which he gives unto believers in and unto their prayers, according unto the mind of God, as also what are the effects and fruits of that work of his, or what are the spiritual abilities which are communicated unto them thereby. Antecedently hereunto, it should be inquired, whether indeed there be any such thing or no, or whether they are only vainly pretended unto by some that are deceived. But the determination hereof, depending absolutely on the foregoing inquiry, it may be handled jointly with them, and needs no distinct consideration. He that would not deceive nor be deceived in his inquiry after these things, must diligently attend unto the two forementioned rules of Scripture testimony and experience. Other safe guides he has none. Yet will it also be granted, that from the light of nature, whence this duty springs, wherein it is founded, from whence as unto its essence it cannot vary, as also from generally received principles of religion suited thereunto, with the uncorrupted practice of the church of God in former ages, much direction may be given unto the understanding of those testimonies, and examination of that experience.

Wherefore the foundation of the whole ensuing discourse is laid in the consideration and exposition of some of those texts of Scripture wherein these things are expressly revealed and proposed unto us; for to insist on them all, were endless. This we principally labor in, as that whereby not only must the controversy be finally determined; but the persons that manage it be eternally judged. What is added concerning the experience of them that do believe the truth herein, claims no more of argument unto them that have it not, than it has evidence of proceeding from, and being suited unto those divine testimonies. But whereas the things that belong unto it, are of great moment unto them who do enjoy it, as containing the principal acts, ways and means of our intercourse and communion with God by Christ Jesus, they are here somewhat at large on all occasions insisted on for the edification of those whose concernment lies only in the practice of the duty itself. Unless therefore it can be proved, that the testimonies of the Scripture produced and insisted on, do not contain that sense and understanding which the words do determinately express (for that only is pleaded,) or that some have not an experience of the truth and power of that sense of them, enabling them to live unto God in this duty according to it, all other contests about this matter are vain and useless.

But yet there is no such work of the Holy Spirit pleaded herein, as should be absolutely inconsistent with, or condemnatory of all those outward aids of prayer, by set composed forms, which are almost everywhere made use of. For the device being ancient, and in some degree or measure received generally in the Christian world, (though a no less general apostasy in many things from the rule of truth at the same time, in the same persons and places, cannot be denied) I shall not judge of what advantage it may be, or has been unto the souls of men, nor what acceptance they have found therein, where it is not too much abused. The substance of what we plead from Scripture and experience is only this; that whereas God has graciously promised his Holy Spirit, as a Spirit of grace and supplications, unto them that do believe, enabling them to pray according to his mind and will, in all the circumstances and capacities wherein they are, or which they may be called unto; it is the duty of them who are enlightened with the truth hereof, to expect those promised aids and assistances in and unto their prayers, and to pray according to the ability which they receive thereby. To deny this to be their duty, or to deprive them of their liberty to discharge it on all occasions, rises up in direct opposition unto the divine instruction of the sacred Word.

But moreover as was before intimated, there are some generally allowed principles, which though not always duly considered, yet cannot at any time be modestly denied, that give direction towards the right performance of our duty herein. And they are these that follow.

1. It is the duty of every man to pray for himself. The light of nature, multiplied divine commands, with our necessary dependence on God and subjection unto him, give life and light unto this principle. To own a divine being, is to own that which is to be prayed unto, and that it is our duty so to do.

2. It is the duty of some, by virtue of natural relation, or of office, to pray with and for others also. So is it the duty of parents and masters of families to pray with and for their children and households. This also derives from those great principles of natural light, that God is to be worshipped in all societies of his own erection; and that those in the relations mentioned, are obliged to seek the chiefest good of them that are committed unto their care; and so is it frequently enjoined in the Scripture. In like manner it is the duty of ministers to pray with and for their flocks, by virtue of especial institution. These things cannot be, nor so far as I know of, are questioned by any: but practically the most of men live in an open neglect of their duty herein. Were this but diligently attended unto from the first instance of natural and moral relations, unto the instituted offices of ministers and public teachers, we should have less contests about the nature and manner of praying than at present we have. It is holy practice that must reconcile differences in religion, or they will never be reconciled in this world.

3. Every one who prays either by himself and for himself, or with others and for them, is obliged as unto all the uses, properties and circumstances of prayer, to pray as well as he is able. For by the light of nature every one is obliged in all instances to serve God with his best. The confirmation and exemplification hereof, was one end of the institution of sacrifices under the Old Testament. For it was ordained in them, that the chief and best of every thing was to be offered unto God. Neither the nature of God, nor our own duty towards him, will admit that we should expect any acceptance with him, unless our design be to serve him with the best that we have, both for matter and manner. So is the mind of God himself declared in the prophet. If you offer the blind for sacrifice, is it not evil? and if you offer the lame and the sick, is it not evil? You brought that which was torn, and that which was lame and sick; should I accept this at your hands, says the Lord? But cursed be the deceiver, who has in his flock a male, and vows and sacrifices unto the Lord a corrupt thing: for I am a great king, says the Lord of hosts, and my name is dreadful among the heathen.

4. In our reasonable service, the best wherewith we can serve God, consists in the intense sincere actings of the faculties and affections of our minds, according unto their respective powers, through the use of the best assistances we can attain. And if we omit, or forgo in any instance, the exercise of them according to the utmost of our present ability, we offer unto God the sick and the lame. If men can take it on themselves in the sight of God, that the invention and use of set forms of prayer and other the like outward modes of divine worship, is the best that he has endowed them withal for his service, they are free from the force of this consideration.

5. There is no man but, in the use of the aids which God has prepared for that purpose, he is able to pray according to the will of God, and as he is in duty obliged, whether he pray by himself and for himself, or with others and for them also. There is not by these means perfection attainable in the performance of any duty: neither can all attain the same measure and degree as unto the usefulness of prayer and manner of praying; but every one may attain unto that wherein he shall be accepted with God, and according unto the duty whereunto he is obliged, whether personally or by virtue of any relation wherein he stands unto others. To suppose that God requires duties of men which they cannot perform in an acceptable manner, by virtue and in the use of those aids which he has prepared and promised unto that end, is to reflect dishonor on his goodness and wisdom in his commands. Wherefore no man is obliged to pray in any circumstances by virtue of any relation or office, but he is able so to do according unto what is required of him; and what he is not able for, he is not called unto.

6. We are expressly commanded to pray, but are nowhere commanded to make prayers for ourselves, much less for others. This is superadded for a supposed conveniency unto the light of nature and Scripture-institution.

7. There is assistance promised unto believers, to enable them to pray according unto the will of God; there is no assistance promised, to enable any to make prayers for others. The former part of this assertion is explained and proved in the ensuing discourse; and the latter cannot be disproved. And if it should be granted, that the work of composing prayers for others is a good work, falling under the general aids of the Holy Spirit necessary unto every good work whatever; yet are not those aids of the same kind and nature with his actual assistances in and unto prayer, as he is the Spirit of grace and supplications. For in the use of those assistances by grace and gifts, every man that uses them does actually pray, nor are they otherwise to be used: but men do not pray in the making and composing forms of prayer, though they may do so in the reading of them afterward.

8. Whatever forms of prayer were given out unto the use of the church by divine authority and inspiration, as the Lord's Prayer and the Psalms or prayers of David, they are to have their everlasting use therein, according unto what they were designed unto. And be their end and use what it will, they can give no more warranty for human compositions unto the same end and the injunction of their use, than for other human writings to be added unto the Scripture.

These and the like principles which are evident in their own light and truth, will be of use to direct us in the argument in hand, so far as our present design is concerned therein. For it is the vindication of our own principles and practice, that is principally designed, and not an opposition unto those of other men. Wherefore, as was before intimated, neither these principles, nor the divine testimonies, which we shall more largely insist upon, are engaged to condemn all use of set forms of prayers as sinful in themselves or absolutely unlawful, or such as so vitiate the worship of God as to render it wholly unacceptable in them that choose so to worship him. For God will accept the persons of those who sincerely seek him, though through invincible ignorance they may mistake in sundry things as unto the way and manner of his worship. And how far as unto particular instances of miscarriage this rule may extend, he only knows; and of men, whatever they pretend, not one. And where any do worship God in Christ, with an evidence of holy fear and sincerity, and walk in a conversation answerable unto the rule of the Gospel, though they have manifold corruptions in the way of their worship, I shall never judge severely either of their present acceptance with God, or of their future eternal condition. This is a safe rule with respect unto others; our own is, to attend with all diligence unto what God has revealed concerning his worship, and absolutely comply therewith, without which we can neither please him, nor come to the enjoyment of him.

I do acknowledge also that the general prevalency of the use of set forms of prayer of human invention in Christian assemblies for many ages (more than any other argument that is urged for their necessity) requires a tenderness in judgment as unto the whole nature of them, and the acceptance of their persons in the duty of prayer by whom they are used. Yet no consideration of this usage, seeing it is not warranted by the Scriptures, nor is of apostolical example, nor is countenanced by the practice of the primitive churches, ought to hinder us from discerning and judging of the evils and inconveniences that have ensued thereon; nor from discovering how far they are unwarrantable as unto their imposition. And these evils may be here a little considered.

The beginnings of the introduction of the use of set forms of prayer of human composition, into the worship of the church, are altogether uncertain. But that the reception of them was progressive by new additions from time to time, is known to all. For neither Rome, nor the present Roman missal were built in a day. In that and the breviaries did the whole worship of the church issue, at least in these parts of the world. No man is so fond as to suppose that they were of one entire composition, the work of one age, of one man, or any assembly of men at the same time; unless they be so brutishly devout as to suppose that the mass-book was brought from heaven unto the Pope by an angel, as the Alcoran was to Mahomet. It is evident indeed, that the common people, at least, of the communion of the papal church, do believe it to be as much of a divine original, as the Scripture, and that on the same grounds of the proposal of it unto them as the only means of divine worship, by their church. Hence is it unto them an idol. But it is well enough known how from small beginnings by various accessions it increased unto its present form and station. And this progress in the reception of devised forms of prayer in the worship of the church, carried along with it sundry pernicious concomitants, which we may briefly consider.

1. In and by the additions made unto the first received forms, the superstitious and corrupt doctrines of the apostasy in several ages, were insinuated into the worship of the church. That such superstitious and corrupt doctrines were gradually introduced into the church, is acknowledged by all Protestants, and is sufficiently known; the supposition of it is the sole foundation of the Reformation. And by this artifice of new additions to received forms, they were from time to time admitted into, and stated in the worship of the church, by which principally to this very day, they preserve their station in the minds of men. Were that foundation of them taken away, they would quickly fall to the ground. By this means did those abominations of transubstantiation and the sacrifice of the mass, both leaven and poison the whole worship of the public assemblies, and imposed themselves on the credulity of the people. The disputes of speculative men, superstitious and subtle, about these things, had never infected the minds of the common people of Christians nor ever been the means of that idolatry, which at length spread itself over the whole visible church of these parts of the world, had not this device of prescribed forms of prayer wherein those abominations were not only expressed, but graphically represented and acted (so violently affecting the carnal minds of men superstitious and ignorant) imposed them on their practice; which gradually hardened them with an obdurate credulity. For although they saw no ground or reason doctrinally to believe what was proposed unto them about transubstantiation and the sacrifice of the mass, and might easily have seen that they were contradictory unto all the conductive principles of men and Christians, namely faith, reason and sense; yet they deceived themselves into an obstinate pretense of believing in the notion of truth, of what they had admitted in practice. Men I say of corrupt minds, might have disputed long enough about vagrant forms, accidents without subjects, transmutation of substances without accidents, sacrifices bloody and unbloody, before they had vitiated the whole worship of the church with gross idolatry; had not this engine been made use of for its introduction; and the minds of men by this means inveigled with the practice of it. But when the whole matter and means of it was gradually insinuated into, and at length comprised in those forms of prayer, which they were obliged continually to use in divine service, their whole souls became leavened and tainted with a confidence in, and love unto these abominations.

Hence it was, that the doctrines concerning the sacraments and the whole worship of God in the church, as they became gradually corrupted, were not at once objectively and doctrinally proposed to the minds and considerations of men, to be received or rejected according to the evidence they had of their truth or error (a method due to the constitution of our natures) but gradually insinuated into their practice by additional forms of prayer, which they esteemed themselves obliged to use and observe. This was the gilding of the poisonous pill, whose operation, when it was swallowed, was to bereave men of their sense, reason, and faith, and make them madly avow that to be true, which was contrary unto them all.

Besides, as was before intimated, the things themselves that were the ground-work of idolatry, namely transubstantiation and the sacrifice of the mass, were so acted and represented in those forms of worship, as to take great impression on the minds of carnal men until they were mad on their idols. For when all religion and devotion is let into the soul by fancy, and imagination excited by outward spectacles, they will make mad work in the world, as they have done, and yet continue to do. But hereof I shall speak in the next place.

It had therefore been utterly impossible that an idolatrous worship should have been introduced into the church in general, had not the opinion of the necessity of devised forms of prayer been first universally received. At least it had not been so introduced and so established, as to procure and cause the shedding of the blood of thousands of holy persons for not complying with it. By this means alone was brought in that fatal engine of the church's ruin, from whose murderous efficacy few escaped with their lives, or souls. Had all churches continued in the liberty wherein they were placed and left by our Lord Jesus Christ and his apostles, it is possible that many irregularities might have prevailed in some of them, and many mistakes been admitted in their practice; yet this monster of the mass devouring the souls of the most, and drinking the blood of many, had never been conceived nor brought forth, at least not nourished into that terrible form and power wherein it appeared and acted for many ages in the world. And upon the account thereof it is not without cause that the Jews say that the Christians received their Tephilloth or prayer books from Armillus, that is, Antichrist.

It is true, that when the doctrine of religion is determined and established by civil laws, the laws of the nation where it is professed, as the rule of all outward advantages, liturgies composed in compliance therewithal, are not so subject to this mischief: but this arises from that external cause alone. Otherwise wherever those who have the ordering of these things do deviate from the truth once received, as it is common for the most so to do, forms of prayers answerable unto those deviations would quickly be insinuated. And the present various liturgies that are amongst the several sorts of Christians in the world, are of little other use than to establish their minds in their peculiar errors, which by this means they adhere unto as articles of their faith.

And hereby did God suffer contempt to be cast upon the supposed wisdom of men about his worship and the ways of it. They would not trust unto his institutions and his care of them; but did first put the ark into a cart, and then like Uzzah put forth a hand of force to hold it when it seemed to shake. For it is certain that, if not the first invention, yet the first public recommendation and prescription of devised forms of prayer unto the practice of the churches, were designed to prevent the insinuation of false opinions and corrupt modes of worship into the public administrations. This was feared from persons infected with heresy that might creep into their ministry. So the Orthodox and the Arians composed prayers, hymns and doxologies, the one against the other, inserting in them passages confirming their own profession, and condemning that of their adversaries. Now however this invention might be approved whilst it kept within bounds, yet it proved the Trojan horse that brought in all evils into the city of God in its belly. For he who was then at work in the mystery of iniquity, laid hold on the engine and occasion to corrupt those prayers, which by the constitution of them who had obtained power in them, the churches were obliged and confined unto. And this took place effectually in the constitution of the worship of the second race of Christians, or the nations that were converted unto the Christian faith after they had destroyed the western Roman Empire. To speak briefly and plainly, it was by this means alone, namely, of the necessary use of devised forms of prayer in the assemblies of the church, and of them alone, that the mass, with its transubstantiation and sacrifice, and all the idolatrous worship wherewith they were accompanied, were introduced, until the world inflamed with those idols, drenched itself in the blood of the saints and martyrs of Christ for their testimony against those abominations. And if it had been sooner discovered, that no church was entrusted with power from Christ to frame and impose such devised forms of worship, as are not warranted by the Scripture, innumerable evils might have been prevented. For that there were no liturgies composed, no imposed use of them, in the primitive churches for some ages, is demonstratively proved with the very same arguments whereby we prove that they had neither the mass, nor the use of images in their worship. For besides the utter silence of them in the apostolical writings, and those of the next ensuing ages, which is sufficient to discard their pretense unto any such antiquity, there are such descriptions given of the practice of the churches in their worship, as are inconsistent with them and exclusive of them; besides, they give such a new face of divine worship, so different from the portraiture of it delivered in the Scripture, as is hardly reconcilable thereunto, and so not quickly embraced in the church.

I do not say, that this fatal consequence of the introduction of humanly devised set forms of prayer in the worship of the church in the horrible abuse made of it, is sufficient to condemn them as absolutely unlawful. For where the opinions leading unto such idolatrous practices are openly rejected and condemned as was before intimated, there all the causes, means and occasions of that idolatry may be taken out of them, and separate from them, as it is in the liturgies of the Reformed churches whether imposed or left free. But it is sufficient to lay in the balance against that veneration which their general observance in many ages may invite or procure. And it is so also to warrant the disciples of Christ to stand fast in the liberty wherewith he has made them free.

Another evil which either accompanied or closely followed on the introduction of devised forms of prayer into the church, was a supposed necessity of adorning the observance of them with sundry arbitrary ceremonies. And this also in the end as is confessed among all Protestants, increased superstition in its worship, with various practices leading unto idolatry. It is evident that the use of free prayer in church administrations, can admit of no ceremonies but such as are either of divine institution, or are natural circumstances of the actions wherein the duties of worship do materially consist. Divine institution and natural light, are the rules of all that order and decency which is needful unto it. But when these devised forms were introduced, with a supposition of their necessity and sole use in the church in all acts of immediate worship, men quickly found that it was needful to set them off with adventitious ornaments. Hereon there was gradually found out and prescribed unto constant observation so many outward postures and gestures, with attires, music, bowings, cringes, crossings, venerations, censings, altars, images, crucifixes, responds, alternatives, and such a rabble of other ceremonies, as rendered the whole worship of the church ludicrous, burdensome and superstitious. And hereon it came to pass that he who is to officiate in divine service, is obliged to learn and practice so many turnings and windings of himself, eastward and westward, to the altar, to the wall, to the people; so many gestures and postures in kneeling, rising, standings, bowings, less and profound, secret and loud speakings, in a due observance of the interposition of crossings, with removals from one place to another, with provision of attires, in their variety of colors and respect to all the furniture of their altars, as are difficult to learn, and foolishly antic in their practice, above all the preparations of players for the stage. Injunctions for these and the like observances, are the subject of the rubric of the missal, and the cautels of the mass.

That these things have not only no affinity with the purity, simplicity and spirituality of evangelical worship, but were invented utterly to exclude it out of the church and the minds of men, needs no proof unto any, who ever read the Scripture with due consideration. Nor is the office of the ministry less corrupted and destroyed by it. For besides a [reconstructed: sorry] cunning in this practice, and the reading of some forms of words in an accommodation unto these rites, there was little more besides an easy good intention to do what he does, and not the quite contrary, required to make any one man or woman (as it once at least fell out) to administer in all sacred worship.

Having utterly lost the Spirit of grace and supplications, neglecting at best all his aids and assistances, and being void of all experience in their minds of the power and efficacy of prayer by virtue of them, they found it necessary by these means to set off and recommend their dead forms. For the lifeless carcass of their forms merely alone, were no more meet to be esteemed prayer, than a tree or a log was to be esteemed a God, before it was shaped, fashioned, gilded and adorned. By this means they taught the image of prayer which they had made, to speak and act a part to the satisfaction of the spectators. For the bare reading of a form of words, especially as it was ordered in an unknown tongue, could never have given the least contentment unto the multitude, had it not been set off with this variety of ceremonies composed to make an appearance of devotion and sacred veneration. Yet when they had done their utmost, they could never equal the ceremonies and rites of the old temple-worship in beauty, glory and order; nor yet those of the heathen in their sacred Eleusinian mysteries for number, solemnity, gravity and appearance of devotion. Rejecting the true glory of Gospel-worship, which the apostle expressly declares to consist in the administration of the Spirit, they substituted that in the room thereof, which debased the profession of Christian religion beneath that of the Jews and pagans; especially considering that the most of their ceremonies were borrowed of them or stolen from them. But I shall never believe that their conversion of the holy prayers of the church by an open contempt of the whole work of the Spirit of God in them, into a theatrical pompous observance of ludicrous rites and ceremonies, can give so much as present satisfaction unto any who are not given up to strong delusions to believe a lie. The exercise of ingrafted prevalent superstition, will appease a natural conscience; outward forms and representations of things believed, will please the fancy, and exercise the imagination; variety and frequent changes of modes, gestures and postures, with a sort of prayer always beginning and always ending, will entertain present thoughts and outward senses, so as that men finding themselves by these means greatly affected, may suppose that they pray very well, when they do nothing less. For prayer consisting in a holy exercise of faith, love, trust, and delight in God, acting themselves in the representation of our wills and desires unto him, through the aid and assistance of the Holy Ghost, may be absent, where all these are most effectually present.

This also produced all the pretended ornaments of their temples, chapels, and oratories, by crucifixes, images, a multiplication of altars, with relics, tapers, vestments and other utensils.

None of these things whereby Christian religion is corrupted and debased, would ever have come into the minds of men, had not a necessity of their invention been introduced by the establishment of set forms of prayer, as the only way and means of divine worship. And wherever they are retained, proportionably unto the principles of the doctrine which men profess, some such ceremonies must be retained also. I will not therefore deny but that here lies the foundation of all our present differences about the manner of divine worship. Suppose a necessity of confining the solemn worship of the church unto set forms of prayer, and I will grant that sundry rituals and ceremonies may be well judged necessary to accompany their observance. For without them they will quickly grow obsolete and unsatisfactory. And if on the other hand, free prayer in the church be allowed, it is evident that nothing but the grace and gifts of the Holy Ghost, with a due regard unto the decency of natural circumstances is required in divine service, or can be admitted therein.

Neither yet is this consequent, how inseparable soever it seems from the sole public use of set forms of prayer in sacred administrations, pleaded to prove them either in themselves or their use to be unlawful. The design of this consideration is only to show, that they have been so far abased, that they are so subject to be abused, and do so always stand in need to be abused, that they may attain the ends aimed at by them, as much weakens the plea of the necessity of their imposition.

For this also is another evil that has attended their invention. The guides of the church after a while were not contented to make use of humanly devised forms of prayer, confining themselves unto their use alone in all public administrations; but moreover they judged it meet to impose the same practice on all whom they esteemed to be under their power. And this at length they thought lawful yea necessary to do on penalties ecclesiastical and civil, and in the issue capital. When this injunction first found a prevalent entertainment is very uncertain. For the first two or three centuries there were no systems of composed forms of prayer used in any church whatever, as has been proved. Afterwards, when they began to be generally received, on such grounds and for such reasons as I shall not here insist on (but may do so in a declaration of the nature and use of spiritual gifts, with their continuance in the church, and an inquiry into the causes of their decay) the authority of some great persons did recommend the use of their compositions unto other churches, even such as had a mind to make use of them, as they saw good. But as unto this device of their imposition, confining churches not only unto the necessary use of them in general, but unto a certain composition and collection of them, we are beholding for all the advantage received thereby, unto the Popes of Rome alone, among the churches of the second edition. For from their own good inclination, and by their own authority, without the advice of councils, or pretense of traditions, the two Gorgon's heads, whereby in other cases they frighten poor mortals, and turn them into stones; by various degrees they obtained a pretense of right to impose them, and did it accordingly. For when the use and benefit of them had been for a while pleaded, and thence a progress made unto their necessity, it was needful that they should be imposed on all churches and Christians by their ecclesiastical authority. But when afterwards they had insinuated into them, and lodged in their bowels, the two great idols of transubstantiation and the unbloody sacrifice, not only mulcts personal and pecuniary, but capital punishments were enacted and executed to enforce their observance. This brought fire and faggot into Christian religion, making havoc of the true church of Christ, and shedding blood of thousands. For the martyrdom of all that have suffered death in the world for their testimony against the idolatries of the mass, derives originally from this spring alone of the necessary imposition of complete liturgical forms of prayer. For this is the sole foundation of the Roman breviary and missal, which have been the Abaddons of the church of Christ in these parts of the world, and are ready once more to be so again. Take away this foundation, and they all fall to the ground. And it is worth consideration, of what kind that principle is, which was naturally improved unto such pernicious effects; which quickly was found to be a meet and effectual engine in the hand of Satan, to destroy and murder the servants of Christ.

Had the churches of Christ been left unto their primitive liberty under the enjoined duties of reading and expounding the Scripture, of singing Psalms to the praise of God, of the administration of the sacraments of baptism and the Lord's Supper, and of diligent preaching the Word, all of them with prayer according unto the abilities and spiritual gifts of them who did preside in them, as it is evident that they were for some ages, it is impossible for any man to imagine what evils would have ensued thereon, that might be of any consideration, in comparison of those enormous mischiefs which followed on the contrary practice. And as unto all the inconveniences, which as it is pretended, might ensue on this liberty, there is sufficient evangelical provision for their prevention or cure, made in the Gospel constitution and communion of all the true churches of Christ.

But this was not the whole of the evil that attended this imposition. For by this means all spiritual ministerial gifts were caused to cease in the church. For as they are talents given to trade withal, or manifestations of the Spirit given to profit or edify the church, they will not reside in any subject, they will not abide if they are by any received, if they are not improved by continual exercise. We see every day what effects the contempt or neglect of them does produce. Wherefore this exercise of them being restrained, and excluded by this imposition, they were utterly lost in the church; so as that it was looked on as a rare thing for any one to be able to pray in the administration of divine worship; yea the pretense of such an ability was esteemed a crime, and the exercise of it a sin, scarce to be pardoned; yet do I not find it in any of the ancient canons reckoned among the faults for which a bishop or a presbyter were to be deposed. But that hereon arose in those who were called to officiate in public assemblies, as unto the gifts which they had received for the edification of the church in divine administrations, that neglect which has given a fatal wound unto the light and holiness of it, is openly evident. For when the generality of men of that order, had provision of prayers made for them, which they purchased at an easy rate, or had them provided for them at the charge of the people, they were contented to be at rest, freed from that labor and travail of mind, which are required unto the constant exercise and improvement of spiritual gifts. This imposition was the grave wherein they were buried. For at length, as it is manifest in the event, our Lord Jesus Christ being provoked with their sloth and unbelief, did withhold the communication of such gifts from the generality of those who did officiate in divine worship. And hereby they lost also one great evidence of the continuance of his mediatory life in heaven for the preservation of the church.

It is known that this was and is the state of things in the Roman church, with reference unto their whole worship in their public assemblies. And therefore although they have indulged divers enthusiasts, whose revelations and actings pretended from the Holy Spirit, have tended to the confirmation of their superstitions; and some of them have ventured at notions about mental prayer which they understand not themselves; yet as unto free prayer by the assistance of the Holy Ghost, in the church assemblies or otherwise, they were the first, and continue to be the fiercest opposers of it: and it is their interest so to be. For shake this foundation of the imposition of an entire system of humanly devised prayers for the only way and means of the worship of the church, and the whole fabric of the mass, with all the weight of their religion (if vanity and imagination may be said to have any weight) which is laid thereon, will tumble into the pit from whence it came. And therefore I must here acquaint the reader, that the first occasion of writing this discourse, was the perusal of Mr. Cressy's preface to his Church History, wherein out of a design to advance the pretended mental prayer of some of his enthusiasts, he reflects with much contumely and reproach upon that free praying by the aids of the Spirit of God which we plead for. And he will find that all his pretenses are examined in the latter part of this discourse.

But notwithstanding these things, those of the Roman church do at this day boast themselves of their devotions in their prayers private and public; and have prevailed thereby on many disposed unto a compliance with them, by their own guilt, ignorance and superstition. The vanity of their pretense has been well detected by evincing the idolatry whereby all or the most of their devotions are vitiated and rendered unacceptable. But this also is of weight with me, that the provision of the system and order of their whole devotion and its exercise, is apparently composed and fitted unto the exclusion of the whole work of the Spirit of God in prayer. And yet do they continue under an incredible delusion as to oppose, revile and condemn the prayers of others who are not of their communion, on this consideration, that those who make them, have not the Holy Spirit nor his aids, which are all confined unto their church. But if any society of men in the world, maintaining the outward profession of Christian religion, can do more to exclude the Holy Ghost and all his operations, in prayer and divine worship, than their church has done, I shall acknowledge myself greatly mistaken. It is nothing but ignorance of him and his whole work, with all the ends for which he is promised unto the church (that I say not, a hatred and detestation of them) that causes any to embrace their ways of devotion.

But to return. The things pleaded for may be reduced unto the ensuing heads.

1. No persons, no churches are obliged by virtue of any divine constitution, precept, or approved example, to confine themselves in their public or private worship, unto set or humanly devised forms of prayer. If any such constitution, precept, or example can be produced, which hitherto has not been done, it ought to be complied withal. And whilst others are left unto their liberty in their use, this is sufficient to enervate all pleas for their imposition.

2. There is a promise in the Scripture, there are many promises made and belonging unto the church unto the end of the world, of the communication of the Holy Spirit unto it, as unto peculiar aids and assistances in prayer. To deny this, is to overthrow the foundation of the holiness and comfort of all believers, and to bring present ruin to the souls of men in distress.

3. It is the duty of believers to look after, to pray for those promised aids and assistances in prayer. Without this, all those promises are despised, and looked on as a flourish of words, without truth, power or efficacy in them. But,

4. This they are commanded to do, and have blessed experience of success therein. The former is plain in the Scripture, and the latter must be left unto their own testimony living and dying.

5. Beyond the divine institution of all the ordinances of worship in the church, with the determination of the matter and form which are essential unto them, contained in the Scripture, and a due attendance unto natural light in outward circumstances, there is nothing needful unto the due and orderly celebration of all public worship in its assembly. If any such thing be pretended, it is what Christ never appointed, nor the apostles ever practiced, nor the first churches after them, nor has it any promise of acceptance.

6. For the preservation of the unity of faith, and the communion of churches among themselves therein, they may express an agreement, as in doctrine by a joint confession of faith, so in a declaration of the material and substantial parts of worship, with the order and method thereof; on which foundation they may in all things communicate with each other as churches, and in the practice of their members.

7. Whereas the differences about prayer under consideration, concern Christian practice in the vitals of religion, great respect is to be had unto the experience of them that do believe; where it is not obstructed and clouded by prejudices, sloth, or adverse principles and opinions. Therefore the substance of the greatest part of the ensuing discourse consists principally in the declaration of those concernments of prayer, which relate unto practice and experience. And hence it follows,

8. That the best expedient to compose these differences amongst us, is for every one to stir up the gift and grace of God that is in him, and all of us to give up ourselves unto that diligence, frequency, fervency and perseverance in prayer which God requires of us, especially in such a season as that wherein we live. A time wherein they, who ever they be, who trouble others, may for ought they know, be near unto trouble themselves. This will be the most effectual means to lead us all into the acknowledgement of the truth, and without which, an agreement in notions, is of little use or value.

But I confess hopes are weak concerning the due application of this remedy to any of our evils or distempers. The opinions of those who deny all internal, real, efficacious operations of the Holy Spirit on the souls of men, and deride all their effects, have so far diffused and riveted themselves into the minds of many, that little is to be expected from a retreat to those aids and reliefs. This evil in the profession of religion was reserved for these latter ages. For although the work and grace of the Holy Spirit in divine worship was much neglected and lost in the world, yet no instances can be given in ages past, of such contempt cast upon all his internal grace and operations, as now abounds in the world. If the Pelagians, who were most guilty, did fall into any such excesses, they have escaped the records and monuments that remain of their deportment. Bold efforts they are of atheistical inclinations, in men openly avowing their own ignorance and utter want of all experience in things spiritual and heavenly. Neither does the person of Christ or his office meet with better entertainment among many; and by some have been treated with scurrility and blasphemy. In the meantime the contests about communion with churches are great and fierce. But where these things are received and approved, those who live not on a traditionary faith, will not forsake Christ and the Gospel, or renounce faith and experience, for the communion of any church in the world.

But all flesh almost, has corrupted its ways. The power of religion, and the experience of it in the souls of men being generally lost, the profession of it is of no great use, nor will long abide. Yes, multitudes all the world over seem to be weary of the religion which themselves profess, so far as it is pleaded to be of divine revelation, be it true or false, unless it be where they have great secular advantages by their profession of it. There is no greater pretense of a flourishing state in religion, than that of some churches of the Roman communion, especially one at this day. But if the account which is given us from among themselves concerning it be true, it is not much to be gloried in. For set aside the multitude of atheists, antiscripturists, and avowed disbelievers of the supernatural mysteries of the Gospel, and the herd that remains influenced into a hatred and persecution of the truth by a combination of men upholding themselves and their way by extravagant secular interests and advantages, is not very highly considerable. Yes, their present height seems to be on a precipice. What inroads in other places, bold opinions concerning the authority of Scripture and the demonstration of it, the person and office of Christ, the Holy Spirit and all his operations, with the advancement of a pretense of morality in opposition to evangelical grace in its nature and efficacy, are made every day, is known to all who consider these things. And although the effects of this poison discover themselves daily, in the decays of piety, the increase of immoralities of all sorts, and the abounding of flagitious sins, exposing nations to the high displeasure of God; yet the security of most in this state of things, proclaims itself in various fruits of it, and can never be sufficiently deplored.

Whereas therefore, one means of the preservation of the church, and its deliverance out of these evils, is a due attendance to the discharge of this duty of prayer, the declaration of its nature, with a vindication of the springs and causes from which it derives its efficacy, which are attempted in the ensuing discourse, may, I hope, through the blessing of God, be of some use to such whose minds are sincere in their inquiries after truth.

There is no need to say much here about the necessity, benefit, and use of prayer in general. Everyone will readily agree that without prayer there can be no religion at all, and that the life and practice of all religion consists mainly in prayer. Therefore, the religious tradition that gives the best directions for prayer, offers the most powerful motivations to pray, and is most faithful in practicing it, has the advantage over all others. It also follows that all errors which corrupt the nature of prayer or excuse neglect of it are harmful to religion, and that disagreements over any of its vital concerns cannot help but be dangerous with serious consequences. On every side, these positions claim to regulate Christian practice in a matter of the highest importance to the glory of God and the salvation of souls. Since nothing in our religion is more essential than maintaining true understanding of prayer's nature and purpose, declaring and defending that understanding when it is attacked or misrepresented is not only justified but necessary.

This is the purpose of the following discourse. Scripture contains a promise that the Holy Spirit will be given to the church as a Spirit of grace and supplications. As such, particular operations are attributed to Him. Frequent mention is also made of the help and assistance He provides to believers in and for their prayers. For this reason, believers are said to pray always, with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit. Some confess they have experienced the lack of this help and assistance in enabling them to pray according to God's will, as well as its power when they do receive it. Accordingly, they regulate their whole approach to this duty by expecting and making use of that help. Others, being supplied with different aids of a different nature for the same purpose, which they regard as sufficient, view the claim of an ability to pray through the help and assistance of the Holy Spirit as a mere empty pretense.

In handling these different views, those who disagree can barely understand one another, as if they were speaking different languages. They are determined not merely by ideas of truth and falsehood, but by the experience they have of the things themselves — an experience they cannot communicate to each other. For while spiritual experience of truth is, to those who have it, above all other arguments, it cannot be used as an argument to enlighten or convince those who do not have it. Therefore, those who plead for prayer through supplies of gifts and grace from the Holy Spirit find it baffling that the need for such supplies could be denied. They cannot understand what those mean who seem to deny that every person in every circumstance is obligated to pray as well as he can, and to make use of the Spirit's assistance in doing so. By prayer they mean what the word most properly and primarily denotes: vocal prayer. On the other side, some are so far from understanding these things or being convinced of their reality that they despise and mock any such claim with great confidence. Praying in the Spirit is used as a phrase of scorn, the very idea being regarded as foolish and contemptible.

Moreover, in disputes like this, people tend to go to extremes — whether to support their own position or to undermine those who disagree. No dispute shows greater extravagance than the one under consideration. Some trace the origin of free prayer among us through the assistance of the Holy Spirit to an invention of the Jesuits — which amounts to making them the authors of the Bible. Others insist that all forms of prayer used in public worship among us are merely copied from the Roman breviaries and missal. These claims will be addressed later. They are mentioned here only to show the value of a calm inquiry into the truth — into God's mind on this matter — which is the purpose of the following discourse.

What should chiefly guide this inquiry is that it be carried out for spiritual benefit and growth, without strife or contention. This requires diligent and consistent attention to the two sole rules of judgment in this matter: Scripture revelation and the experience of believers. Although the latter must be regulated by the former, where it is so regulated, it is a safe guide to those who possess it. In this case, as in a mirror, face answers to face — so do Scripture revelation and spiritual experience correspond to one another. All other arguments from customs, traditions, and forced conclusions are useless here. The questions before us concern the nature of the Holy Spirit's work in the help and assistance He gives to believers in and for their prayers according to God's will, and also what the effects and fruits of that work are — that is, what spiritual abilities He communicates to them. Before that, one might ask whether any such thing exists at all, or whether it is merely a pretense invented by some who are mistaken. But since answering that question depends entirely on the previous inquiry, it can be handled together with the rest and needs no separate treatment. Anyone who wants neither to deceive nor to be deceived in seeking these things must diligently attend to the two rules already mentioned: Scripture testimony and experience. He has no other safe guides. Yet it will also be granted that from natural light — from which this duty springs and on which it is founded, and from which it cannot vary in its essence — as well as from generally accepted principles of religion suited to it, and from the uncorrupted practice of the church of God in earlier ages, much direction may be given for understanding those testimonies and examining that experience.

The foundation of the entire following discourse rests on the consideration and exposition of some of those Scripture passages where these things are expressly revealed and presented to us — for to examine all of them would be endless. This is the main labor of this work, since the controversy must ultimately be settled by Scripture, and those who engage in it will be judged by Scripture for eternity. What is added concerning the experience of those who believe the truth here carries no argumentative weight for those who lack that experience, beyond what flows from and corresponds to those divine testimonies. But since the things belonging to that experience are of great importance to those who have it — containing the principal acts, ways, and means of our intercourse and communion with God through Christ Jesus — they are treated here at some length on all occasions, for the benefit of those whose only concern is the practice of the duty itself. Unless it can be proved that the Scripture testimonies produced and relied upon do not carry the meaning that the words plainly express — for that is the only thing being claimed — or that some people have no experience of the truth and power of that meaning enabling them to live to God according to it, all other contests about this matter are empty and pointless.

Yet nothing pleaded here for the work of the Holy Spirit is meant to be absolutely incompatible with, or condemnatory of, all those outward aids to prayer through set composed forms, which are used in nearly every part of the church. The practice is ancient and has been received in various degrees throughout the Christian world — though a no less widespread departure from the rule of truth at the same time, by the same persons and in the same places, cannot be denied — and I will not presume to judge how much benefit it may have brought, or does bring, to people's souls, nor what acceptance they have found in it where it is not too greatly abused. The substance of what we plead from Scripture and experience is simply this: since God has graciously promised His Holy Spirit, as a Spirit of grace and supplications, to those who believe — enabling them to pray according to His mind and will, in all the circumstances and capacities they face or may be called to — it is the duty of those who are enlightened with this truth to expect those promised aids and assistances in and for their prayers, and to pray according to the ability they receive thereby. To deny this as their duty, or to deprive them of their freedom to fulfill it on all occasions, is to set oneself in direct opposition to the divine instruction of the sacred Word.

But beyond what was said before, there are some generally accepted principles which, though not always duly considered, cannot at any time be honestly denied, and which give direction toward the right performance of our duty in this matter. They are as follows.

1. It is every person's duty to pray for himself. Natural light, numerous divine commands, and our necessary dependence on God and submission to Him all give life and clarity to this principle. To acknowledge a divine being is to acknowledge that this being ought to be prayed to, and that it is our duty to do so.

2. By virtue of natural relationships or of office, it is the duty of some to pray with and for others as well. So it is the duty of parents and heads of households to pray with and for their children and families. This also flows from the great principles of natural light: that God is to be worshipped in all societies of His own making, and that those in the relationships mentioned are obligated to seek the highest good of those entrusted to their care; and this is frequently commanded in Scripture. Likewise, it is the duty of ministers to pray with and for their congregations, by virtue of their particular calling. These things are not questioned by anyone, as far as I know; yet in practice the majority of people openly neglect their duty here. If this were diligently attended to — from the first instance of natural and moral relationships to the established office of ministers and public teachers — we would have far fewer disputes about the nature and manner of prayer than we do now. Holy practice must reconcile differences in religion, or they will never be reconciled in this world.

3. Everyone who prays — whether by and for himself, or with and for others — is obligated, as to all the purposes, qualities, and circumstances of prayer, to pray as well as he is able. By natural light, every person is obligated in every instance to serve God with his best. One purpose of the institution of sacrifices in the Old Testament was to confirm and illustrate this. It was ordained in them that the finest and best of everything was to be offered to God. Neither God's nature nor our own duty toward Him will allow us to expect any acceptance with Him unless our intention is to serve Him with the best we have, both in substance and in manner. So God Himself declared through the prophet: "If you offer the blind for sacrifice, is it not evil? And if you offer the lame and the sick, is it not evil? You brought what was torn, and what was lame and sick; should I accept this at your hands, says the Lord? But cursed be the deceiver who has in his flock a male, and vows and sacrifices to the Lord a corrupt thing; for I am a great King, says the Lord of hosts, and My name is feared among the nations."

4. In our reasonable service, the best with which we can serve God consists in the sincere, intense exercise of the faculties and affections of our minds according to their respective powers, through the use of the best assistance we can obtain. If we omit or abandon the exercise of them according to our present full ability in any instance, we offer to God the sick and the lame. If men can take it upon themselves before God that the invention and use of set forms of prayer and other such outward modes of divine worship is the best that He has endowed them with for His service, they are exempt from the force of this consideration.

5. Every person, by using the aids God has prepared for this purpose, is able to pray according to God's will and as duty requires — whether praying by and for himself, or with and for others. By these means no one achieves perfection in any duty, nor can all attain the same measure and degree in the usefulness and manner of prayer; but everyone can reach the point at which he will be accepted by God and fulfill the duty he is obligated to, whether personally or by virtue of a relationship to others. To suppose that God requires duties of people which they cannot perform acceptably by means of the aids He has prepared and promised for that end is to reflect dishonor on His goodness and wisdom in His commands. Therefore, no one is obligated to pray in any circumstance by virtue of any relationship or office unless he is able to do so according to what is required of him; and what he is not able to do, he is not called to do.

6. We are expressly commanded to pray, but are nowhere commanded to compose prayers for ourselves, still less for others. This is something added for supposed convenience, beyond the directions of natural light and Scripture institution.

7. Believers are promised assistance to enable them to pray according to God's will; there is no assistance promised to enable anyone to compose prayers for others. The first part of this assertion is explained and proved in the following discourse; the second part cannot be disproved. And even if it were granted that composing prayers for others is a good work that falls under the general assistance of the Holy Spirit required for every good work, those aids are not of the same kind and nature as His actual assistance in and for prayer, as He is the Spirit of grace and supplications. For in using that assistance through grace and gifts, every person who uses them is actually praying, and they cannot be used in any other way; but people do not pray in the making and composing of forms of prayer, though they may pray when reading them afterward.

8. Whatever forms of prayer were given to the church by divine authority and inspiration — such as the Lord's Prayer and the Psalms or prayers of David — have their enduring use in the church, according to what they were designed for. Whatever their purpose and use may be, they provide no more warrant for human compositions to the same end, or for imposing their use, than other human writings provide for being added to Scripture.

These and similar principles, which are clear in their own light and truth, will serve to guide us in the argument at hand, as far as our present purpose is concerned. For the primary goal is the defense of our own principles and practice, not an attack on those of other people. Therefore, as was noted before, neither these principles nor the divine testimonies on which we shall more fully rely are intended to condemn all use of set forms of prayer as sinful in themselves, absolutely unlawful, or as so corrupting God's worship as to render it wholly unacceptable to those who choose to worship in that way. God will accept the persons of those who sincerely seek Him, even if through unavoidable ignorance they err in various things regarding the way and manner of His worship. How far this principle may extend to particular failures in practice, only He knows; no person, whatever they may claim, knows it. And where anyone worships God in Christ with evident holy fear and sincerity, and lives a life consistent with the rule of the Gospel — though they may have many corruptions in their manner of worship — I will never judge harshly either their present acceptance with God or their future eternal condition. This is a safe rule with respect to others; our own rule is to attend with all diligence to what God has revealed concerning His worship, and to comply with it fully — without which we can neither please Him nor come to enjoy Him.

I also acknowledge that the general prevalence of humanly invented set forms of prayer in Christian assemblies for many ages — more than any other argument urged for their necessity — calls for tenderness in judging the whole matter of them and the acceptance of those who use them in the duty of prayer. Yet no consideration of this practice, since it is not warranted by Scripture, is not of apostolic example, and is not supported by the practice of the earliest churches, should prevent us from discerning and assessing the evils and inconveniences that have followed from it, or from recognizing how far their imposition is unwarranted. These evils may be briefly considered here.

The beginnings of the introduction of humanly composed set forms of prayer into the church's worship are entirely uncertain. But that their reception was gradual, with new additions from time to time, is well known. For neither Rome nor the present Roman missal was built in a day. In that missal and the breviaries, the entire worship of the church in these parts of the world found its conclusion. No one is so naive as to suppose they were composed all at once, the work of one age, one man, or any assembly of men at the same time — unless they are so blindly devout as to believe the mass-book was brought from heaven to the Pope by an angel, as the Quran was supposedly brought to Muhammad. It is evident that the common people of the Roman communion, at least, believe it to be as much of divine origin as Scripture itself, and for the same reason: that it is presented to them by their church as the only means of divine worship. For them, therefore, it has become an idol. But it is well enough known how, from small beginnings and through various additions, it grew to its present form and standing. This gradual reception of devised forms of prayer in the church's worship brought with it several harmful consequences, which we may briefly consider.

1. Through the additions made to the original received forms, the superstitious and corrupt doctrines of apostasy in various ages were worked into the church's worship. That such superstitious and corrupt doctrines were gradually introduced into the church is acknowledged by all Protestants and is well known; this very assumption is the sole foundation of the Reformation. By this scheme of adding to received forms, they were admitted from time to time into the church's worship, and through that worship they have maintained their hold on people's minds to this day. Remove that foundation, and they would quickly collapse. By this means, the abominations of transubstantiation and the sacrifice of the mass both infiltrated and poisoned the entire worship of public assemblies, imposing themselves on the credulity of the people. The speculative and subtle disputes of learned and superstitious men about these things would never have infected the minds of ordinary Christians, nor ever served as the means of that idolatry which finally spread over the entire visible church in these parts of the world, had this device of prescribed forms of prayer — in which those abominations were not only expressed but graphically represented and enacted, so powerfully affecting the carnal minds of superstitious and ignorant people — not imposed them on their practice and gradually hardened them into obstinate credulity. For although they could see no doctrinal ground or reason to believe what was proposed to them about transubstantiation and the sacrifice of the mass, and might easily have seen that it was contradictory to all the guiding principles of human and Christian thought — namely faith, reason, and the senses — yet they deceived themselves into a stubborn pretense of belief in ideas they had already admitted into their practice. Men of corrupt minds, I say, might have disputed endlessly about wandering forms, accidents without subjects, transmutation of substances without accidents, and sacrifices bloody and unbloody, before they had corrupted the whole worship of the church with gross idolatry — had not this device been used to introduce it, and the minds of men drawn in through their practice. But when the entire substance and means of it were gradually worked into, and at last contained in, those forms of prayer which people were continually obligated to use in divine service, their whole souls became saturated with a trust in and love for these abominations.

As a result, the doctrines concerning the sacraments and the whole worship of God in the church — as they became gradually corrupted — were not presented all at once to the minds and consideration of men as doctrines to be received or rejected according to the evidence for their truth or error (which would have been a method suited to our nature), but were gradually worked into their practice through additional forms of prayer which they felt obligated to use. This was the gilding of a poisonous pill whose effect, once swallowed, was to rob people of their sense, reason, and faith, and to make them madly affirm as true what was contrary to all three.

Moreover, as was noted before, the very things that were the foundation of idolatry — namely transubstantiation and the sacrifice of the mass — were so acted out and represented in those forms of worship as to make a deep impression on the minds of worldly people until they were mad with their idols. For when all religion and devotion enters the soul through the imagination and fancy, excited by outward spectacles, it will wreak havoc in the world, as it has done and continues to do. This will be addressed more fully in the next point.

It would therefore have been utterly impossible for an idolatrous worship to be introduced into the church in general, had the view of the necessity of devised forms of prayer not first been universally accepted. At least it would not have been so introduced and so firmly established as to cause the shedding of the blood of thousands of holy persons for refusing to comply with it. By this means alone was brought in that fatal engine of the church's ruin — from whose murderous power few escaped with their lives or souls. Had all churches continued in the liberty in which they were placed and left by our Lord Jesus Christ and His apostles, many irregularities might have prevailed in some of them, and many mistakes admitted into their practice; yet this monster of the mass — devouring the souls of most and drinking the blood of many — would never have been conceived or brought forth, at least not nourished into the terrible form and power in which it appeared and acted for many ages in the world. On this account, it is not without reason that the Jews say Christians received their Tephilloth, or prayer books, from Armillus — that is, Antichrist.

It is true that when religious doctrine is determined and established by civil law, and the laws of the nation where it is professed serve as the rule governing all outward advantages, liturgies composed in compliance with those laws are not so subject to this evil; but this comes only from that external cause. Otherwise, wherever those who manage these things deviate from the truth once received — as most tend to do — forms of prayer reflecting those deviations would quickly be introduced. And the various liturgies existing among the many kinds of Christians in the world today serve little purpose beyond entrenching those Christians in their particular errors, to which they cling as articles of faith.

By this, God allowed contempt to fall on the supposed wisdom of men concerning His worship and the ways of it. They would not trust His institutions and His care of them; instead, they first put the ark in a cart and then, like Uzzah, put out a hand of force to hold it when it seemed to shake. It is certain that if not the first invention, then at least the first public recommendation and imposition of devised forms of prayer on the churches, was designed to prevent false opinions and corrupt modes of worship from creeping into public administrations. The fear was of heresy-infected persons who might make their way into the ministry. So the Orthodox and the Arians composed prayers, hymns, and doxologies against each other, inserting in them passages that confirmed their own positions and condemned those of their opponents. However well-intentioned this scheme may have been while it stayed within bounds, it proved to be the Trojan horse that brought all evils into the city of God. For the one who was then at work in the mystery of iniquity seized on this device and occasion to corrupt those prayers which the authority of those in power had obligated and confined the churches to. This took effect especially in the shaping of worship for the second generation of Christians — the nations converted to the Christian faith after they had destroyed the western Roman Empire. To speak plainly and briefly: it was by this means alone — the required use of devised forms of prayer in the church's assemblies — and by this alone, that the mass, with its transubstantiation and sacrifice, and all the idolatrous worship accompanying them, were introduced, until the world, inflamed with those idols, drenched itself in the blood of the saints and martyrs of Christ who testified against those abominations. If it had been discovered sooner that no church had been entrusted by Christ with the authority to frame and impose devised forms of worship not warranted by Scripture, innumerable evils might have been prevented. For the demonstrative proof that there were no liturgies composed, and no imposed use of them, in the earliest churches for several centuries, rests on the very same arguments by which we prove they had neither the mass nor the use of images in their worship. Besides the complete silence on these in the apostolic writings and those of the immediately following ages — which is sufficient to dismiss any claim to such antiquity — those writings give such descriptions of the churches' worship as are inconsistent with and exclude these things; and the liturgies themselves present such a new face of divine worship, so different from the picture of it given in Scripture, as is hardly reconcilable with it, and therefore was not quickly embraced in the church.

I do not say that this terrible consequence of introducing humanly devised set forms of prayer into the church's worship — in the horrible abuse made of them — is sufficient to condemn them as absolutely unlawful. For where the opinions that led to such idolatrous practices are openly rejected and condemned, as was noted before, all the causes, means, and occasions of that idolatry may be removed from them and separated from them, as is the case in the liturgies of the Reformed churches whether imposed or freely used. But it is sufficient reason to weigh against the reverence that their widespread use over many centuries might invite or produce. It is also sufficient reason to warrant the disciples of Christ to stand firm in the freedom with which He has set them free.

Another evil that either accompanied or closely followed the introduction of devised forms of prayer into the church was a supposed necessity of adorning their observance with various arbitrary ceremonies. This also, as all Protestants agree, ended up increasing superstition in worship, with various practices leading to idolatry. It is clear that the use of free prayer in church services can admit no ceremonies other than those either divinely instituted or naturally implied in the actions that make up worship. Divine institution and natural light are the rules of all the order and decency needed for it. But when these devised forms were introduced, on the assumption that they were necessary and alone valid in all acts of direct worship, people quickly found it necessary to dress them up with additional ornaments. As a result, there were gradually prescribed for constant observance so many outward postures and gestures — with vestments, music, bowings, cringes, crossings, acts of veneration, censings, altars, images, crucifixes, responses, alternations, and such a crowd of other ceremonies — as to render the whole worship of the church ridiculous, burdensome, and superstitious. The person officiating in divine service was required to learn and practice so many turnings of himself — eastward and westward, to the altar, to the wall, to the people; so many gestures and postures in kneeling, rising, standing, bowing both slight and deep, speaking softly and aloud, carefully observing the placement of crossings, moving from one location to another, managing vestments of varying colors, and attending to all the furnishings of their altars — that it was difficult to learn and foolishly theatrical in practice, surpassing even the preparations of actors for the stage. Instructions for these and similar observances are the subject of the rubric of the missal and the rubrics of the mass.

That these things have not only no connection with the purity, simplicity, and spiritual character of evangelical worship, but were invented precisely to shut it out of the church and the minds of men, needs no proof for anyone who has ever read Scripture with due attention. Nor is the ministry itself any less corrupted and destroyed by it. For beyond a certain artful facility in this practice and the reading of some forms of words in connection with these rites, along with a basic intention to do what one is doing and not the opposite, little more was required to qualify any man — or woman, as at least once happened — to administer all of sacred worship.

Having utterly lost the Spirit of grace and supplications, at best neglecting all His aids and assistances, and being without any personal experience of the power and effectiveness of prayer through them, they found it necessary by these means to dress up and commend their lifeless forms. For the empty shell of their forms alone was no more fit to be called prayer than a log of wood was fit to be called a god before it was carved, fashioned, gilded, and decorated. By this means they taught the image of prayer they had made to speak and play a part to the satisfaction of the spectators. The bare reading of a form of words — especially as it was arranged in an unknown tongue — could never have given the slightest satisfaction to the common people, had it not been accompanied by this variety of ceremonies designed to create an appearance of devotion and sacred reverence. Yet even after doing their utmost, they could never equal the ceremonies and rites of the old temple worship in beauty, glory, and order, nor those of the pagans in their sacred Eleusinian mysteries for number, solemnity, gravity, and the appearance of devotion. Having rejected the true glory of Gospel worship — which the apostle expressly declares consists in the administration of the Spirit — they substituted something in its place that debased the profession of the Christian religion below that of the Jews and pagans, especially considering that most of their ceremonies were borrowed or taken from those very groups. But I will never believe that their transformation of the holy prayers of the church — through open contempt for the whole work of the Spirit of God in them — into a theatrical and pompous observance of ludicrous rites and ceremonies can give even momentary satisfaction to anyone who has not been given over to strong delusions to believe a lie. The exercise of deeply rooted superstition will quiet a natural conscience; outward forms and representations of things believed will please the imagination and occupy the fancy; the variety and constant change of modes, gestures, and postures, with a kind of prayer always beginning and always ending, will engage present thoughts and outward senses, so that people, finding themselves greatly affected by these means, may suppose they are praying very well, when they are doing nothing of the kind. For prayer consists in a holy exercise of faith, love, trust, and delight in God, expressing our desires to Him through the aid and assistance of the Holy Spirit — and all of this can be absent where all those outward things are most effectively present.

This also produced all the pretended ornaments of their temples, chapels, and oratories — crucifixes, images, a multiplication of altars, with relics, candles, vestments, and other furnishings.

None of these corruptions and degradations of the Christian religion would ever have occurred to anyone, had not a necessity for their invention been introduced by establishing set forms of prayer as the only way and means of divine worship. And wherever they are retained, some such ceremonies must necessarily be retained as well, in proportion to the doctrinal principles people hold. I will not deny, then, that here lies the foundation of all our present differences about the manner of divine worship. Grant the necessity of confining the solemn worship of the church to set forms of prayer, and I will grant that various rituals and ceremonies may well be judged necessary to accompany their observance. For without them, those forms will quickly grow stale and unsatisfying. But if, on the other hand, free prayer in the church is permitted, it is clear that nothing more is required or can be admitted in divine service than the grace and gifts of the Holy Spirit, along with due regard for the natural circumstances of decency.

Yet this consequence — however inseparable it may seem from the sole public use of set forms of prayer in sacred services — is not being invoked here to prove that those forms are in themselves, or in their use, unlawful. The purpose of this consideration is only to show that they have been so greatly abused, that they are so readily subject to abuse, and that they always stand in need of being abused to achieve the ends sought by them — and all of this greatly weakens the argument for making their use mandatory.

Another evil has accompanied this invention. Church leaders, after a while, were not content merely to use humanly devised forms of prayer and confine themselves to them alone in all public services; they also judged it fitting to impose the same practice on all who were under their authority. In time they considered it lawful — even necessary — to enforce this with ecclesiastical and civil penalties, and ultimately with capital punishment. When this injunction first gained wide acceptance is very uncertain. For the first two or three centuries there were no systems of composed forms of prayer used in any church whatever, as has been proved. Afterward, when such forms began to be generally received — for reasons I will not detail here, but may address in a discussion of the nature and use of spiritual gifts, their continuation in the church, and an inquiry into the causes of their decline — the authority of some prominent figures recommended the use of their compositions to other churches, which were free to make use of them as they saw fit. But as for this scheme of imposing them — confining churches not only to their necessary use in general, but to a specific composition and collection — we owe all the so-called advantages received from it entirely to the Popes of Rome, among the churches of the second generation. For on their own initiative, by their own authority, without the counsel of councils or any claim to tradition — the two Gorgon heads by which in other matters they terrify people and turn them to stone — they obtained, by degrees, a pretended right to impose them, and proceeded to do so. Once the benefit and usefulness of these forms had been pleaded for a while, and from there the argument advanced to their necessity, it followed that they must be imposed on all churches and Christians by ecclesiastical authority. But when they had gradually worked into those forms and lodged within them the two great idols of transubstantiation and the unbloody sacrifice, not merely fines and personal penalties, but capital punishment was enacted and carried out to enforce their observance. This brought fire and execution into the Christian religion, devastating the true church of Christ and shedding the blood of thousands. For the martyrdom of all who have been put to death in the world for testifying against the idolatries of the mass traces its origin entirely to this single spring: the mandatory imposition of a complete liturgical system of prayer. For this is the sole foundation of the Roman breviary and missal, which have been the destroyers of Christ's church in these parts of the world, and stand ready to be so again. Remove this foundation, and they all fall to the ground. It is worth considering what kind of principle it is that was so naturally developed into such harmful effects — which quickly proved to be a ready and effective instrument in Satan's hand to destroy and murder the servants of Christ.

Had the churches of Christ been left in their original freedom — under the required duties of reading and expounding Scripture, singing Psalms to the praise of God, administering the sacraments of baptism and the Lord's Supper, and diligently preaching the Word, all of which were accompanied by prayer according to the abilities and spiritual gifts of those who presided — as they evidently were for several centuries, it is impossible for anyone to imagine what evils could have followed that would be in any way comparable to the enormous harms that resulted from the contrary practice. And as for all the inconveniences that are claimed might result from this freedom, the Gospel's constitution and the communion of all the true churches of Christ make sufficient provision for their prevention or correction.

But this was not the whole of the evil that attended this imposition. By this means, all spiritual ministerial gifts were caused to disappear from the church. For since such gifts are talents given to be put to use, or manifestations of the Spirit given to benefit and build up the church, they will not remain in any person nor be retained by those who have received them if they are not continually exercised. We see every day what the contempt or neglect of them produces. When their exercise was restricted and shut out by this imposition, they were utterly lost in the church, so that it came to be regarded as a rare thing for anyone to be able to pray in the administration of divine worship — indeed, the very claim to such ability was treated as a crime, and its exercise as a nearly unpardonable sin; yet I do not find this reckoned among the faults for which a bishop or presbyter was to be deposed in any of the ancient canons. But that from this arose among those called to officiate in public assemblies a neglect of the gifts they had received for the edification of the church in divine worship — a neglect that has dealt a fatal blow to the church's light and holiness — is openly evident. For when the generality of those in that office had prayers provided for them, acquired at little effort or paid for at public expense, they were content to rest and be free from the labor and mental effort that the constant exercise and development of spiritual gifts requires. This imposition was the grave in which those gifts were buried. At length, as events plainly show, our Lord Jesus Christ — provoked by their sloth and unbelief — withheld the communication of such gifts from the generality of those who officiated in divine worship. In doing so, they also lost one great evidence of the continuation of His mediatorial life in heaven for the preservation of the church.

This is known to be the state of things in the Roman church with respect to its entire worship in public assemblies. And therefore, although that church has tolerated various enthusiasts whose supposed revelations and actions, claimed to be from the Holy Spirit, served to confirm its superstitions — and some of them have ventured into notions about mental prayer which they themselves do not understand — yet as to free prayer by the assistance of the Holy Spirit, whether in church assemblies or elsewhere, the Roman church was the first and remains the fiercest opponent of it; and it is in their interest to be so. For shake this foundation — the imposition of an entire system of humanly devised prayers as the only way and means of the church's worship — and the whole fabric of the mass, with all the weight of their religion (if vanity and imagination can be said to have any weight) which rests upon it, will tumble into the pit from which it came. Therefore I must inform the reader here that the first occasion for writing this discourse was my reading of Mr. Cressy's preface to his Church History, in which, with the design of advancing the supposed mental prayer of some of his enthusiasts, he speaks with much contempt and reproach about the free prayer by the aids of the Spirit of God that we plead for. The reader will find that all his claims are examined in the latter part of this discourse.

Notwithstanding all this, those of the Roman church boast to this day of their devotion in public and private prayer, and have by this means drawn in many who are disposed toward compliance through their own guilt, ignorance, and superstition. The vanity of their claim has been well exposed by showing the idolatry by which all or most of their devotions are corrupted and rendered unacceptable. But this also weighs on me: the provision of the entire system and order of their devotion and its exercise is evidently designed and arranged to shut out the whole work of the Spirit of God in prayer. And yet they continue under an incredible delusion, opposing, ridiculing, and condemning the prayers of others who are not of their communion, on the grounds that those others do not have the Holy Spirit or His aids, which they claim are all confined to their church. But if any society of people in the world, maintaining the outward profession of the Christian religion, can do more to exclude the Holy Spirit and all His operations in prayer and divine worship than their church has done, I will freely admit I am greatly mistaken. It is nothing but ignorance of Him and His whole work, and of all the ends for which He is promised to the church — not to say a hatred and detestation of them — that causes any to embrace their ways of devotion.

But to return. The things we are pleading for may be summarized under the following headings.

1. No persons, no churches are obligated by any divine constitution, command, or approved example to confine themselves in their public or private worship to set or humanly devised forms of prayer. If any such constitution, command, or example can be produced — which has not been done thus far — it ought to be complied with. And as long as others are left free in their use of such forms, this is sufficient to defeat all arguments for imposing them.

2. There is a promise in Scripture — many promises belonging to the church to the end of the world — of the communication of the Holy Spirit to it, with particular help and assistance in prayer. To deny this is to overthrow the foundation of the holiness and comfort of all believers, and to bring immediate ruin to the souls of people in distress.

3. It is the duty of believers to seek after and pray for those promised aids and assistances in prayer. Without this, all those promises are despised and treated as mere flourishes of words, without truth, power, or effectiveness. But,

4. Believers are commanded to do this, and they have the blessed experience of success in it. The first is plain in Scripture, and the second must be left to their own testimony in life and in death.

5. Beyond the divine institution of all the ordinances of worship in the church — with the determination of the substance and form that are essential to them, as contained in Scripture — and due attention to natural light in outward circumstances, nothing is needed for the proper and orderly celebration of all public worship in its assemblies. If anything further is claimed, it is something Christ never appointed, the apostles never practiced, the earliest churches never used, and it carries no promise of acceptance.

6. For the preservation of unity in faith and communion among the churches, they may express their agreement — as in doctrine by a joint confession of faith, so also in a declaration of the material and substantial parts of worship, with their order and method — on which foundation they may in all things share fellowship with each other as churches, and in the practice of their members.

7. Since the differences about prayer under consideration concern Christian practice at the very heart of religion, great weight must be given to the experience of believers, where it is not obstructed and clouded by prejudices, sloth, or contrary principles and opinions. Therefore the substance of the greatest part of the following discourse consists mainly in the declaration of those aspects of prayer that relate to practice and experience. And from this it follows:

8. That the best means of resolving these differences among us is for every one to stir up the gift and grace of God that is in him, and for all of us to give ourselves to the diligence, frequency, fervency, and perseverance in prayer that God requires of us — especially in such a season as we now live in. A time when those, whoever they may be, who trouble others, may for all they know be near to trouble themselves. This will be the most effective means of leading us all into acknowledgment of the truth, and without it an agreement on opinions is of little use or value.

But I confess that hopes are weak concerning the proper application of this remedy to any of our evils and disorders. The opinions of those who deny all internal, real, and effective operations of the Holy Spirit on the souls of men, and who ridicule all their effects, have so widely spread and taken root in the minds of many, that little is to be expected from a return to those aids and reliefs. This evil in the profession of religion was reserved for these latter ages. For although the work and grace of the Holy Spirit in divine worship was much neglected and lost in the world, no examples can be found in past ages of such contempt cast upon all His internal grace and operations as now abounds. If the Pelagians, who were most guilty of this, fell into any such excesses, they have escaped the records and monuments that survive concerning their conduct. These are bold ventures of atheistic inclinations in men who openly declare their own ignorance and utter lack of all experience in things spiritual and heavenly. Nor do the person of Christ or His office receive any better reception from many; and by some they have been treated with scurrility and blasphemy. Meanwhile, disputes about communion with churches are loud and fierce. But where such opinions are received and approved, those who do not live on a merely inherited faith will not forsake Christ and the Gospel, or renounce faith and experience, for the sake of communion with any church in the world.

But nearly all people have corrupted their ways. The power of religion and the experience of it in the souls of men being generally lost, the profession of it is of little value and will not long survive. Indeed, multitudes all over the world seem to be weary of the religion they themselves profess — so far as it claims to be divinely revealed, whether true or false — unless they have great worldly advantages from their profession of it. No church shows a greater outward appearance of flourishing than certain churches of the Roman communion, especially one at this day. But if the account given to us from within their own ranks is true, it is not much to boast of. Set aside the multitude of atheists, those who reject Scripture, and those who openly disbelieve the supernatural mysteries of the Gospel — and the remaining crowd, driven into a hatred and persecution of the truth by a combination of men maintaining themselves and their ways through extreme worldly interests and advantages, is not very impressive. Indeed, their present height seems to be on the edge of a precipice. What advances are made every day in various places by bold opinions concerning the authority of Scripture and its evidence, the person and office of Christ, the Holy Spirit and all His operations, and the promotion of a pretended morality in opposition to evangelical grace in its nature and power — this is known to all who pay attention to these things. And although the effects of this poison reveal themselves daily in the decay of piety, the increase of immorality of all kinds, and the abounding of shameful sins that expose nations to the high displeasure of God, yet the security of most people in this condition, proclaiming itself through various fruits, can never be sufficiently mourned.

Since, therefore, one means of the church's preservation and deliverance from these evils is faithful attention to the duty of prayer, the declaration of its nature — with a defense of the sources and causes from which it derives its power, which is attempted in the following discourse — may, I hope through God's blessing, be of some use to those whose minds are sincere in their search for truth.