A RATIONAL ILLUSTRATION OF THE BOOK OF COMMON PRAYER, &c. AN INTRODUCTORY DISCOURSE, Shewing the LAWFULNESS and NECESSITY of a National precomposed LITURGY. MOST of the objections urged by the Dissenters Introduct. against the Church of England, to justify their separation from it, being levelled against its form and manner of divine worship, prescribed in the Book of Common Prayer, &c. are, in the following Discourse, answered, as fully as its brevity would permit. So that, though the principal design of this book be to instruct such as are friends to our Church and Liturgy; yet it is not impossible but that, by the blessing of God, it may in some measure contribute to the undeceiving some that are enemies to both, (such I mean as are disaffected to the former, upon no other account, than a prejudice to the latter;) especially could we, by first convincing them of the Lawfulness and Necessity of National precomposed LITURGIES in general, prevail with them to take an impartial view of what is here offered in behalf of our own. To this end therefore, and to make the following sheets of as general use as I can, I shall, by way of INTRODUCTION, endeavour to prove these three things, viz. I. FIRST, That the ancient Jews, our Saviour, his Apostles, and the primitive Christians, never joined (as far as we can prove) in any prayers, but precomposed set forms only. B Introduct. II. SECONDLY, That those precomposed set forms, in which they joined, were such as the respective congregations were accustomed to, and thoroughly acquainted with. III. THIRDLY, That their practice warrants the imposition of a National precomposed Liturgy. I. FIRST, I am to prove that the ancient Jews, our Saviour, his Apostles, and the primitive Christians, never joined (as far as we can prove) in any prayers, but precomposed set forms only. And this I shall do by shewing, 1. First, That they did join in precomposed set forms of prayer. 2. Secondly, That (as far as we can conjecture) they never joined in any other. 1. First, I shall shew that the ancient Jews, our Saviour, his Apostles, and the primitive Christians, did join in precomposed set forms of prayer. 3 1st, To begin with the Jews, we find that the first piece of solemn worship recorded in Scripture, is a hymn of praise, composed by Moses upon the deliverance of the children of Israel from the Egyptians, which was sung by all the congregation alternately; by Moses and the men first, and afterwards by Miriam and the women': which could not have been done, unless it had been a precomposed set form. Again, in the expiation of an uncertain murder, the elders of the city which is next to the slain are expressly commanded to say, and consequently to join in saying, a form of prayer, precomposed by God himself2. And in other places of Scripture we meet with several other forms of prayer precomposed by God, and prescribed by Moses; which though they were not to be joined in by the whole congregation, are yet sufficient precedents for the use of precomposed set forms. But farther, the Scriptures assure us, that David appointed the Levites to stand every morning to thank and praise the Lord, and likewise at event, which rule was observed in the temple afterwards built by Solomon, and restored at the building of the second temple after the captivity 5. Lastly, the whole book of Psalms were forms of prayer and praise, indited by the Holy Ghost, for the joint use of the congregation; as 1 Exod. xv. 1, 20, 21. 2 Deut. xxi. 7, 8. 3 Numb. vi. 22, &c. chap. x. 35, 36. Deut. xxvi. 3, 5, &c. ver 13, &c. 41 Chron. xxiii. 30. 5 Neh. xii. 44, 45, 46. appears as well from the titles of several of the Psalms, as Introduct. from other places of Scripture7. Innumerable proofs might be brought, both ancient and modern, that the Jews did always worship God by precomposed set forms: but the world is fully satisfied of this truth, from the concurrent testimonies of Josephus, Philo, Paul Fagius, Scaliger, Buxtorf, and Selden in Eutychium. The reader may consult two learned men of our own, viz. Dr. Hammond (who both proves that the Jews used set forms, and that their prayers and praises, &c. were in the same order as our Common Prayer) and Dr. Lightfoot, who not only asserts they worshipped God by stated forms, but also sets down both the order and method of their hymns and supplications 9. So that there is no more reason to doubt of their having and using a precomposed settled Liturgy, than of our own having and using the Book of Common Prayer, &c. and of its consisting of precomposed set forms. We shall therefore proceed in the next place to inquire into the practice of our Saviour, his Apostles, and the primitive Christians. And, 1st, for our Saviour; there is not the least doubt to be made, but that he continued always in communion with the Jewish Church, and was zealous and exemplary in their public devotions; and consequently took all opportunities of joining in those precomposed set forms of prayer, which were daily used in the Jewish congregations, as the learned Dr. Lightfoot has largely proved 10. And we may be sure, that had not our Saviour very constantly attended their public worship, and joined in the devotions of their congregations, the Scribes and Pharisees, his bitter and implacable enemies, and great zealots for the temple-service, would doubtless have cast it in his teeth, and reproached him as an ungodly wretch, that despised prayer, &c. But nothing of this nature do we find in the whole New Testament; and therefore, had we no other grounds than these to go upon, we might safely conclude, that our blessed Saviour was a constant attendant on the public service of the Jews, and consequently that he joined in precomposed set forms of prayer. And, 2dly, as to the Apostles and our Lord's other Disciples, their practice was doubtless the same till our Sa 6 See Psal. xlii. 44, &c. Psal. vi. 5, 6, &c. Psal. xcii, 7 1 Chron. xvi. 7. 2 Chron. xxix. 30. Ezra iii. 10, 11. 8 View of the Directory, p. 136. and his Oxford Papers, p. 260. vol. i. 10 Ibid. vol. ii. part ii. p. 1036, Introduct. viour's ascension; after which (besides that they did probably still join as before in the Jewish worship", which consisted of precomposed set forms) it is plain that they used precomposed set forms in their Christian assemblies, during the remainder of their lives. As the primitive Christians also did in the following ages: as will appear, 1. From their joining in the use of the Lord's prayer. 2. From their joining in the use of Psalms. 3. From their joining in the use of divers precomposed set forms of prayer, besides the Lord's prayer and Psalms. 1. They joined in the use of the Lord's prayer. And this is sufficiently evident from our Saviour's having commanded them so to do: for whatever dispute may be made about the word Tws, in St. Matthew vi. 9. which is translated not exactly, but paraphrastically, after this manner, but ought with greater accuracy to be rendered so, or thus 12; yet if we should grant that our Lord in this place only proposed this prayer as a directory and pattern to make our other prayers by, we should still find afterwards, upon another occasion, viz. when his Disciples requested him to teach them to pray, as John had also taught his Disciples, he prescribed the use of these very words; expressly bidding them, When ye pray, say, Our Father 13. I suppose nobody hath so mean an opinion, either of St. John's or our Saviour's Disciples, as to think they were ignorant how to pray therefore it is plain they could mean nothing else by their request, but that Christ would give them this peculiar form, as a badge of their belonging to him; according to the custom of the Jewish Doctors, who always taught their disciples a peculiar form to add to their own 14; so that either our Saviour instructed them to use this very form of words, or else he did not answer the design of their requests. 66 But it is objected, that" if our Lord had intended this prayer should be used as a set form, he would not have "added the Doxology, when he delivered it at one time, "as it is recorded in St. Matthew, and omit it, when he "delivered it upon another occasion, as in St. Luke." 11 See Acts iii. 1. xiii. 15. xvii. 2. 12 In which signification it is always used in the Septuagint Version of the Bible, as appears by comparing Numb. vi. 23. xxiii. 5. Isa. viii. 11. xxviii. 16. xxx. 15. xxxvii. 33. and some other places, with Numb. xxiii. 16. Isa. xxx. 12. xxxvii. 21. liii. 3. For in the former texts, ὕτω λέγει ὁ Kúgios, thus saith the Lord, bears the same signification as τάδε λέγει ὁ Κύριος, this saith the Lord, in the latter. 13 Luke xi. 1, 2, &c. 14 Dr. Lightfoot, vol. ii. p. 158. |