Quest. LXXVIII. Whether are set forms of words, or free praying without them, the better way? And what are the commodities and incommodities of each way?
Answ. I will first answer the latter question, because the former dependeth on it.
1. The commodities of a set form of words, and the discommodities of free praying, are these following.
1. In a time of dangerous heresy which hath infected the pastors, a set form of prescribed words tendeth to keep the church, and the consciences of the joiners, from such infection, offence, and guilt.
2. When ministers are so weak as to dishonour God’s worship by their unapt, and slovenly, and unsound expressions, prescribed or set forms which are well composed, are some preservative and cure. When free praying leaveth the church under this inconvenience.
3. When ministers by faction, passion, or corrupt interests, are apt to put these vices into their prayers, to the injury of others, and of the cause and church of God, free praying cherisheth this, or giveth it opportunity, which set forms do restrain.
4. Concordant set forms do serve for the exactest concord in the churches, that all at once may speak the same things.
5. They are needful to some weak ministers that cannot do so well without them.
6. They somewhat prevent the laying of the reputation of religious worship upon the minister’s abilities: when in free praying, the honour and comfort varieth with the various degrees of pastoral abilities; in one place it is excellently well done, in another but dryly, and coldly, and meanly, in another erroneously, unedifyingly, if not dishonourably, tending to the contempt of holy things: whereas in the way of set liturgies, though the ablest (at that time) doth no better, yet the weakest doth (for words) as well, and all alike.
7. And, if proud, weak men have not the composing and imposing of it, all know that words drawn up by study, upon sober premeditation and consultation, have a greater advantage, to be exact and apt, than those that were never thought on till we are speaking them.
8. The very fear of doing amiss, disturbeth some unready men, and maketh them do all the rest the worse.
9. The auditors know beforehand, whether that which they are to join in be sound or unsound, having time to try it.
10. And they can more readily put in their consent to what is spoken, and make the prayer their own, when they know beforehand what it is, than they can do when they know not before they hear it; it being hard to the duller sort of hearers, to concur with an understanding and consent as quick as the speaker’s words are. Not but that this may be done, but not without great difficulty in the duller sort.
11. And it tendeth to avoid the pride and self-deceit of many, who think they are good christians, and have the spirit of grace and supplication, because by learning and use they can speak many hours in variety of expressions in prayer; which is a dangerous mistake.
I. The commodities of free extemporate prayers, and the discommodity of prescribed or set forms, are these following.
1. It becometh an advantage to some proud men who think themselves wiser than all the rest, to obtrude their compositions, that none may be thought wise enough, or fit to speak to God, but in their words; and so introduce church tyranny.
2. It may become a hinderance to able, worthy ministers that can do better.
3. It may become a dividing snare to the churches, that cannot all agree and consent in such human impositions.
4. It may become an advantage to heretics when they can but get into power (as the Arians of old) to corrupt all the churches and public worship; and thus the papists have corrupted the churches by the mass.
5. It may become an engine or occasion of persecution, and silencing all those ministers that cannot consent to such impositions.
6. It may become a means of depraving the ministry, and bringing them to a common idleness and ignorance (if other things alike concur). For when men perceive that no greater abilities are used and required, they will commonly labour for and get no greater, and so will be unable to pray without their forms of words.
7. And by this means christian religion may decay and grow into contempt; for though it be desirable that its own worth should keep up its reputation and success, yet it never hitherto was so kept up without the assistance of God’s eminent gifts and graces in his ministers; but wherever there hath been a learned, able, holy, zealous, diligent ministry, religion usually hath flourished; and wherever there hath been an ignorant, vicious, cold, idle, negligent, and reproached ministry, religion usually hath died and been reproached. And we have now no reason to look for that which never was, and that God should take a new course in the world.
And the opinion of imposing forms of prayer, may draw on the opinion of imposing forms of preaching as much, and of restraining free preaching as much as free praying, as we see in Muscovy. And then when nothing but bare reading is required, nothing more will be ordinarily sought; and so the ministry will be the scorn of the people.
9. And it will be a shameful and uncomfortable failing, when a minister is not able on variety of occasions, to vary his prayers accordingly; and when he cannot go any further than his book or lesson; it being as impossible to make prayers just fitted to all occasions which will fall out, as to make sermons fit for all, or, as they say, to make a coat for the moon; and the people will contemn the ministers when they perceive this great deficiency.
10. And it is a great difficulty to many ministers to learn and say a form without book; so that they that can all day speak what they know, can scarce recite a form of words one quarter of an hour, the memory more depending upon the body and its temper, than the exercise of the understanding doth. He that is tied just to these words and no other, is put upon double difficulties (like him that on height must walk on a narrow plank, where the fear of falling will make him fall); but he that may express the just desires of his soul in what words occur that are apt and decent, is like one that hath a field to walk in: for my own part, it is easier to me to pray or preach six hours in freedom, about things which I understand, than to pray or preach the tenth part of an hour in the fetters of a form of words which I must not vary. And so the necessity of a book coming in, doth bring down the reputation of the minister’s abilities in the people’s eyes.
11. But the grand incommodity, greater than all the rest, is, that it usually occasioneth carelessness, deadness, formality, and heartless lip-labour in our prayers to God; whilst the free way of present prayer tendeth to excite our cogitations to consider what we say. And it is not only the multitude of dead-hearted hypocrites in the church that are thus tempted to persevere in their lip-labour and hypocrisy, and to draw near to God with their lips when their hearts are far from him, and are gratified in their self-deceit, whilst parrot-like they speak the words which they regard not, and their tongues do overgo their hearts; but even better men are greatly tempted to dead remissness: I mean both the speakers and the hearers; for, (1.) It is natural to man’s mind to have a slothful weariness as well as his body; and to do no more than he findeth a necessity of doing; and though God’s presence alone should suffice to engage all the powers of our souls, yet sad experience telleth us, that God’s eye and man’s together will do more with almost all men, than one alone. And therefore no men’s thoughts are so accurately governed as their words. Therefore when a minister knoweth beforehand that, as to man’s approbation, he hath no more to do but to read that which he seeth before him, he is apt to let his thoughts fly abroad, and his affections lie down, because no man taketh account of these; but in extemporate diversified prayer, a man cannot do it without an excitation of his understanding to think (to the utmost) what to say; and an excitation of his affections, to speak with life, or else the hearers will perceive his coldness. And though all this may be counterfeit and hypocritically affected, yet it is a great help to seriousness and sincerity to have the faculties all awake; and it is a great help to awaken them to be under such a constant necessity even from man. As those that are apt to sleep at prayer, will do it less when they know men observe them, than at another time.
(2.) And both to speaker and hearers, human frailty maketh it hard to be equally affected with the same thing spoken a hundred times, as we are at first when it is new, and when it is clothed in comely variety of expressions. As the same book affecteth us not at the twentieth reading as it did at the first. Say not, it is a dishonourable weakness to be thus carried by the novelty of things or words; for though that be true, it is a dishonour common to all mankind, and a disease which is your own, and which God alloweth us all lawful means to cure, and to correct the unhappy effects while it is uncured.
12. Lastly, set forms serve unworthy men to hide their unworthiness by, and to be the matter of a controversy in which they may vent their envy against them that are abler and holier than themselves.
III. Having now truly showed you the commodities and incommodities of both the ways, for the other question, Which of them is the best? I must give you but some rules to answer it yourselves.
1. That is best which hath most and greatest commodities, and fewest and least discommodities.
2. For neither of them is forbidden, in itself considered, nor evil, but by accident.
3. One may have more commodities and the other more discommodities in one country and age than in another, and with some persons than with others.
4. Sober christians should be very backward in such cases to quarrel with the churches where they live or come, but humbly submit to them in lawful things, though they think them inconvenient; because it is not they that are the governors and judges.
5. The commands of authority and the concord of the churches may weigh down many lighter accidents.
6. I crave leave to profess that my own judgment is, that somewhat of both ways joined together will best obviate the incommodities of both. To have so much wholesome, methodical, unquestionable forms as near as may be in Scripture phrase, as is necessary to avoid the inconvenience of a total exclusion of forms, and to the attainment of their desirable ends; and to have so much withal of freedom in prayer, as is necessary to its ends, and to avoid the deadness, formality, and other incommodities of forms alone. Though by this opinion I cross the conceits of prejudiced men on both extremes, I think I cross not the judgment of the church of England, which alloweth free prayers in the pulpit, and at the visitation of the sick; and I cross not the opinion of any ancient church that ever I read of, nor of the fathers and pastors whose works are come to our hands; nor yet of Luther, Melancthon, Bucer, Zuinglius, Calvin, Beza, Zanchius, and the rest of our famous reformers; nor yet of the famous nonconformists of England, Cartwright, Hildersham, Greenham, Perkins, Bain, Amesius, &c. and I less fear erring in all this company, than with those on either of the extremes.
I have a manuscript of Mr. Cartwright’s in which, having fully proved the falsehood of Sutliff’s suspicion that he was acquainted with Hacket’s project, he answereth his charge, as if he were against forms of prayer, that all the years that he lived at Middleburg and Antwerp, he constantly used the same form before sermon, and mostly after sermon, and also did read prayers in the church; and that since he seldom concluded but with the Lord’s prayer.