4. It is not inquired whether forms of prayer, especially as they may be designed unto and used for other ends, and not to be read instead of prayer, have in their composition any thing of intrinsical evil in them, for it is granted they have not; but the inquiry is, whether in their use as prayers they are not hinderances unto the right discharge of the duty of prayer according to the mind of God, and so may be unlawful in that respect : for I take it as granted that they are nowhere appointed of God for such a use, nowhere com- manded so to be used; whence an argument may be formed against their having any interest in divine, acceptable worship, but it is not of our present consideration. For if on the accounts mentioned they appear not contrary unto, or inconsistent with, or are not used in a way exclusive of, that work of the Holy Spirit in prayer which we have described from the Scripture, nor are reducible unto any divine prohibition, whilst I may enjoy my own liberty I shall not contend with any about them. Nor shall I now engage into the examination of the arguments that are pleaded on their behalf, which some have greatly multiplied, as I suppose, not much to the advantage of their cause; for in things of religious practice, one testimony of Scrip- ture rightly explained and applied, with the experience of believers thereon, is of more weight and value than a thousand dubious rea- sonings, which cannot be evidently resolved into those principles. Wherefore some few additional considerations shall put an issue unto this discourse.
CHAP. XI.] PEESCRIBED FORMS OF PRAYER EXAMINED. 349
I. Some observe that there are forms of prayer composed and prescribed to be used both in the Old Testament and the New. Such, they say, was the form of blessing prescribed unto the priests on solemn occasions, Num. vi. 22-26, and the Psalms of David, as also the Lord's Prayer in the New Testament. (1.) If this be so, it proves that forms of prayer are not intrinsically evil, which is granted, yet may the use of them be unnecessary. (2.) The argu- ment will not hold, so far as it is usually extended at least: " God himself hath prescribed some forms of prayer, to be used by some persons on some occasions; therefore, men may invent, yea, and pre- scribe those that shall be for common and constant use." He who forbade all images, or all use of them, in sacred things, appointed the making of the cherubims in the tabernacle and temple. (3.) The argument from the practice in use under the Old Testament in this matter, if any could thence be taken, when the people were carnal and tied up unto carnal ordinances, unto the duty and practice of believers under the New Testament and a more plentiful effusion of the Spirit, hath been before disproved. (4.) The words prescribed unto the priests were not a prayer properly, but an authoritative benediction, and an instituted sign of God's blessing the people ; for so it is added in the explication of that ordinance, " They shall put my name upon the children of Israel; and I will bless them," verse 27. (5.) David's Psalms were given out by immediate inspiration, and were most of them mystical and prophetical, appointed to be used in the church, as all other Scriptures, only some of them in a certain manner, namely, of singing, and that manner also was determined by divine appointment. (6.) That any form of prayer is appointed in the New Testament, to be used as a form, is neither granted nor can be proved. (7.) Give us prayers composed by divine inspiration, with a command for their use, with the time, manner, and form of their usage, which these instances prove to be lawful, if they prove any thing in this case, and there will be no contest about them. (8.) All and every one of the precedents or examples which we have in the whole Scripture of the prayers of any of the people of God, men or women, being all accommodated to their present occasions, and uttered in the freedom of their own spirits, do all give testimony unto free prayer, if not against the use of forms in that duty.
2. Moreover, it seems that " when any one prayeth, his prayer is a form unto all that join with him, whether in families or church- assemblies;" which some lay great weight upon, though I am not able to discern the force of it in this case: for, — (1.) The question is solely about him that prayeth, and his discharge of duty according to the mind of God, and not concerning them who join with him. (2.) The conjunction of others with him that prayeth according to his
350 WORK OF THE HOLY SPIRIT IN PRAYER. [BOOK VII.
ability is an express command of God. (3.) Those who so join are at liberty, when it is their duty, to pray themselves. (4.) That which is not a form in itself is not a form to any ; for there is more required to make it so than merely that the words and expressions are not of their own present invention. It is to them the benefit of a gift, bestowed for their edification in its present exercise, according to the mind of God. That only is a form of prayer unto any which he himself useth as a form; for its nature depends on its use. (5.) The argument is incogent: "God hath commanded some to pray according to the ability they have received, and others to join with them there- in; therefore, it is lawful to invent forms of prayer for ourselves or others, to be used as prayers by them or us."