THE FALL OF MAN BY SIN. Delivered in a SERMON PREACHED AT THE LATE SOLEMN Fast, Aug. 28. 1644. WHEREIN THESE THREE Positions are briefly handled. 1 That all men are miserably fallen from God by sin, and are in a lost condition. 2 That we must see ourselves thus fallen, and utterly lost in ourselves, before we can convert and turn to God by repentance. 3 That forms of Prayer may, in some cases be lawfully and warrantably used. Published at the Request of that truly religious and virtuous Gentlewoman, Mistress ELIZABETH BARNHAM, wife to the Worshipful ROBERT BARNHAM, Esq BY WILLIAM NEWPORT, Preacher of the Word at Boughton Monchelsey in Kent. Imprimatur. JOHN DOWNAME. LONDON, Printed by L. N. for Richard Wodenoth, and are to be sold at his shop at the sign of the Star in Cornhill. 1644. THE FALL OF MAN BY SIN. HOSE. 14.1, 2. 1. O Israel return unto the Lord thy God, thou hast fallen by thine iniquity. 2. Take with you words, and turn unto the Lord, say unto him take away all iniquity, and receive us graciously. IN the three first verses of this Chapter, the Prophet exhorts the men of Israel to repentance: First, Moving them to the duty, verse 1. Secondly, Prescribing them the manner how they should perform it, verse 2, 3. In the former we have, first the duty to be done, to turn to the Lord their God. Secondly, an argument to move them to it, taken from their misery in continuing in their sins, Thou hast fallen by thine iniquity. Of the duty something already. A few words now of the Argument to move them to it, taken from their misery by sin, Thou hast fallen by thine iniquity; here is not a word that hath any difficulty in it. The metaphor is taken from blind men that walk in rough places, that stumble and fall, to the breaking of their bones, yea, to the loss of their lives. The condition of these men is the condition of us all, we have all stumbled by sin, and plunged ourselves into a bottomless gulf of misery and destruction. From hence we may conclude two things: 1. That all men are miserably fallen from God by sin, and are in a lost condition. 2. That we must see ourselves thus fallen and utterly lost, before we will convert and turn to God by repentance. For this cause the Prophet here shows them their misery in this regard, when he moves them to this main duty. Concerning the former, that we are all fallen from God, and are in a lost condition. There is a twofold fall: First, a corporal fall, such was that of Mephibosheth, 2 Sam. 4.4. and such was Abners fall by the hand of Joab, 2 Sam. 3.38. Secondly, there is a spiritual and metaphorical fall, and such was the fall of those Israelites, and is the fall of us all as we are in nature. And this fall is either into sin, A Bishop must not be a novice, lest being lifted up with pride, he fall into the condemnation of the devil, 1 Tim. 3.6. that is, into that sin for which the devil was condemned. They that will be rich fall into temptation, and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition, 1 Tim. 6.9. Or else, secondly, into punishment and misery, by reason of sin. Prov. 24.16. A just man falleth seven times, and riseth again, but the wicked shall fall into mischief. Into both these we are all fall'n, both into sin, and into misery by reason of sin. Into sin, Rom. 3.10. There is none righteous, no not one, there is none that understandeth or seeketh after God, they are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable, there is none that doth good, no not one. Verse 23. All have sinned, and come short of the glory of God. And as into sin, so into misery by reason of sin; we are all fall'n, as we are all by nature dead in sin, so we are all children of wrath, Ephes. 2.1, 3. The wages of sin is death, Rom. 6. ult. Of death there are three sorts, spiritual, temporal and eternal; all these we have contracted by our fall into sin. And therefore this our fall is not like that of Mephibosheth, who got only a lameness by his fall, nor like that of Eutichus, who though he fell from the third loft, yet had his life in him, Act. 20.10. but like the fall of Abner, who died in his fall, and like that of Jezebel, who being thrown out at a window had her brains in her fall dashed out, and being sought, for burial, had nothing found of her but her skull, and her feet, and the palms of her hands, 2 King. 9.35. 1. By this fall we have contracted spiritual death, the death of our souls: And you being dead in your sins, and the uncircumcision of your flesh hath he quickened, Coloss. 2.12. And it appears that we are all thus spiritually dead, in that we are all by nature deprived of all spiritual sense. As first of spiritual sight, Revel. 3.17. And know it not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind. The condition of him, Joh. 9 is the con●ition of us all, we are all borne blind, 1 Cor. 2.14. True 'tis, some notions of a deity and of right and wrong we have to maintain humane society and to leave without excuse; but these are, as I conceive, Onmes natura surdi & coeci donec aures & corda spiritu Dei aperiantur & perforentur. Pareus in loc. no relics of God's Image, but reimpressions, for by nature, the whole frame of man's heart is only evil, Gen. 6.5. Secondly, Of hearing, we have no ears spiritually to hear, that is, so as to learn and obey, unless God give them us, Deut. 29.3. Matth. 13.9.13. Who hath ears to hear, let him hear: Loquitur de auribus cordis non corporis, He speaks of the ears of the soul, not of the body. Thirdly, Of Relish, for we have no more relish of divine things then hath a dead man of dainties, Rom. 8.5. They that are after the flesh, do savour or relish the things of the flesh; and they that are after the spirit, the things of the spirit. We find no more savour in prayer, reading, Sermons, then relish in the white of an egg, Job 6.6. or then a dead man in his meat. Fourthly, Of Feeling, prick a living man but with the least pin and he will start, but potch a dead man with knives, stab him with daggers, or lay the weight of a mountain upon him, and he feels nothing; and so dead are we naturally in our sins, that let them make never so deep gashes in our souls, we feel them not; yea, though whole mountains of iniquity lay on us, we are not sensible of them, we are by nature past feeling, Ephes. 4.19. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. have stone in our hearts, yea, our whole hearts of stone, and are not pained with them, Ezek. 36.26. 2. Dead men are deprived of the faculty of speaking; so we cannot speak the language of Canaan, Isa. 19.18. we cannot speak in a spiritual manner, either in prayer to God, or by instruction or comfort to the edification of our brethren. 3. Dead men have no faculty locomotive, they move no further then moved; no more can we move spiritually in the work of God, we can do nothing that hath all the ingredients of a good work in it. Moral works may be done, and the carcase of spiritual ones may be produced, as we may come to Church, hear after a sort, and seem to join in prayer, but all this without heart, spirit and life. Clocks and jacks move, but not from internal principles of life, but only from external movers, weights and springs; and so may we, when in nature, and therefore when our plummet is down, when our outward incentive is removed, and we have our ends, we shall give over moving, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. Seorsim a me. Bez. Without me, or severed from me (saith our Saviour) ye can do nothing, Joh. 15.5. 4. Dead carcases rot and stink, and so are loathsome to men's nostrils; we naturally rot and stink in the grave of our sins, so that we are hateful to the nostrils of the Almighty; yea, our best works are loathsome and abomination unto him, Isa. 1.13, 15. 2. As by sin we have fall'n, so as to deprive ourselves of spiritual life, and bring death on our souls, so by it we deprive ourselves of corporal life too, and make ourselves liable to bodily death, Rom. 5.12. By one man's disobedience sin entered into the world, and death by sin, and so death passed upon all men, because all have sinned, Rom. 8.10. If Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin, that is, liable to death through sin: Yea, this our fall makes us liable to all these afflictions and miseries that we endure, which are preambles to, and pieces of this death, and are called death in some places Exod. 10.17. Take away from me this death only (saith Pharaoh) concerning the plague of the Locusts: And all the judgements of famine, sword, pestilence, consumptions, and agues, are fruits of this our fall and sin, Leu. 26. Deut. 28. 3 By this our fall we have deprivid ourselves of eternal life, and have made ourselves liable to everlasting death and destruction, and this stands of two parts, the privative, and the positive, of the punishment of loss, and of the punishment of sense. The privative part of it, or the punishment of loss, is the want of the beatifical vision, and happy fruition of the glorious Godhead for evermore, which is thought by Divines to be greater than that of sense or feeling; because this is the loss of an infinite good, whereas that is only the tolerance of a finite evil. If the want of Absalon's enjoyment of the society of his earthly father for a time were so great a punishment, as to move him rather to desire death then life on those terms, 2 Sam. 14.32. What then is the want of the presence of our heavenly Father for evermore. Christ shall say to all unregenerate ones at the last day, Depart from me, I never knew you, Mat. 7.23. Mat. 25.41. Depart from me ye cursed. The positive part or punishment of sense, are exquisite torments both of body and soul, in all the faculties of the one, and members of the other. Which in Scripture are sometimes called outer darkness, sometimes the worm that dieth not, Matth. 25.30. and sometimes the fire that shall never be quenched, Mark 9.46. and by many other such fearful names, as are enough to strike terror and amazement into the hearts of the most presumptuous sinners, if they had any sense in them. What the miserable condition of those that suffer them, is, we may partly see by the earnest request that the rich man in the place of these torments made to Abraham, And he cried and said, Father Abraham have mercy on me, and send Lazarus that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, for I am tormented in this flame, Luk. 16.24. The tip of his finger, either to show that the torments of hell do make the damned speak foolishly, for else why not a pale-full, aswell as a drop, or else to show that they would be glad of the least mitigation of their pain. Thus we see how we have fall'n to the loss of life spiritual, temporal, and eternal. Quest. If inquiry be made how it comes to pass that we thus fall to our utter undoing without infinite mercy. Answ. I answer, that this our fall is caused by the fall of our first parents in eating the fruit of the forbidden tree. Our sin and misery ariseth from their sin both imputed and imparted. 1. Imputed, for Adam and Eve were common persons, they sustained the person of all their posterity, whiles they stood, we all stood with them, when they fell, we all fell with them. As Levi paid tithes to Melchizedec in Abraham being in his loins, Hebr. 7.9, 10. So we all sinned in Adam, being in his loins. Rom. 5.18, 19 Therefore as by the offence of one, judgement came upon all men to condemnation; even so by the righteousness of one, the free gift came upon all men to the justification of life. For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners; so by the obedience of one many shall be made righteous. Christ's righteousness and obedience is ours by imputation: therefore, so is Adam's sin and disobedience. In this sin was the confluence of all sins. First, Infidelity and unbelief. Secondly, unthankfulness for their happy estate. Thirdly, Idolatry, in desiring to deify themselves, to make themselves like God. Fourthly, Contempt of God, and rebellion against him. Fifthly, Murder, yea, Parricide, in killing themselves and all their posterity. Adam was Parricida antequam parens. Sixthly, Intemperance and wantonness, in that all the fruits besides would not serve their turn, but they must needs have that for their lust. Seventhly, Theft, in seizing on that, which was none of their own, without the owner's leave. Eighthly, there was an assent to the false testimony of the Devil. Ninthly, an ambitious desire of an higher dignity than God had given them, yea, of the glory that belonged only to himself. And therefore they err that think there was nothing but intemperance and pride in it. Now all these sins of theirs folded up in one, are justly devolved upon us their posterity, and imputed unto us. 2. Imparted, and thus we came by that original filth that pollutes both soul and body, viz. by propagation from our first Parents, Behold I was shapen in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me, Psal. 51.5. This original sin the Apostle demonstrates à posteriori, from the death of those children that never committed actual transgression, Rom. 5.14. Nevertheless, death reigned even from Adam to Moses, even over them that had not sinned after the similitude of Adam's transgression: They died; therefore they sinned, but they sinned not actually, therefore they were guilty of original sin. Look, as ignoble and leprous parents beget none but ignoble and leprous children, and as of serpents can come nothing but serpents; so of polluted parents come only polluted children, for who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? not one, Job 14.4. And this original filth is called sometimes Lust, Rom. 7.7. sometimes the law in the members, vers. 23. the body of sin, vers. 24. and the old man, Ephes. 4.22. And this is the source and fountain of all our actual sins, and cause of all our falls. Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God, for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man. But every man is tempted when he is drawn away of his own lust and enticed. Then lust when it hath conceived bringeth forth sin, and si●● when it is finished, bringeth forth death, James 1.13, 14, 15. Many put their greatest miscarriages upon the devil; the devil owed them a shame, and now he hath paid them; when as the chief cause of all our falls lies in our own hearts. The devil can but suggest and solicit, he cannot compel us to sin; if he did not blow with our own heifer, work on our own corruption, he could do us no hurt. And so long as this seed of all iniquity remains in men's hearts, they would commit sin if there were no devil to tempt them to it. Use 1 This informs of two things: 1. Since we have fall'n, and so fall'n, as hath been showed, by our sins, this discovers to us our great misery, by reason of sin and iniquity. We have fall'n by it to our undoing, to our destruction▪ from God, from bliss to misery; fall'n not only to the breaking of our bones with David, but to the breaking of our necks with jezebel; fallen so as that we have lost life spiritual, life eternal by our fall, and are in a lost, dead and undone condition without infinite mercy. We have deprived ourselves of all ability to serve our God, and have made ourselves slaves to the devil. We have made ourselves children of wrath, and fit for nothing but to fry in hell for all eternity. We have plunged ourselves from the top of our felicity to the gulf of endless misery. We think them unhappy that fall from honour to contempt, from wealth to beggary; O how unhappy are we that have fall'n by our sins from God to the devil, from the highest bliss to the lowest infelicity! And in this case we are not able to help ourselves, nor to desire help, nor to see ourselves to want help, unless God be pleased to give us eyes. Few men, though they are thus fall'n, and thus miserable, will be brought to believe it. 2. This shows against the patrons of and universal grace, that man hath no power to see light when presented to him, unless God give him eyes; no power to believe in Christ and to embrace him, unless God give him an heart, no power to do any spiritual work, unless God give life, strength and ability. Rom. 7.18. I know that in me, that is, in my flesh dwelleth no good thing. Hence David prays for the opening of his eyes, Psal. 119.18. Lord open thou mine eyes, that I may see the wonders of thy Law. And Saint Paul desires light from God in the behalf of the Ephesians, That the eyes of your understanding being enlightened, ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the Saints, Ephes. 1.18. And so for the Colossians, he prays That they might be filled with the knowledge of Gods will in wisdom and spiritual understanding, Coloss. 1.9. And he shows us that the act of believing is Gods gift, To you it is given not only to believe, but likewise to suffer for his sake, Philip. 1.29. And that the will to any good is wrought in us by God himself, 'Tis God that works in you to will and to do of his good pleasure, Philip. 3.13. Not that God doth force the will, for than 'twere no will, but that he doth sweetly incline it, ex nolentibus volentes facit, of unwilling he makes us willing to repent, believe and obey. The will is free from coaction or impulsion, but not from servitude. Men in state of nature sin freely, that is to say, they are not constrained to it, and yet they sin necessarily too, for they cannot do any thing without sin. Quest. But is God just then in punishing men that sin necessarily, so that they cannot avoid it? Answ. I do not say that men are necessitated to commit every particular sin that they are guilty of, for from outward acts of sin and uncleanness, men in state of nature have power to abstain; but this is that which I affirm, that they can do nothing but either materially or formally 'tis a sin, for they are out of Christ, and therefore must needs fail in every act, either in matter, manner, or end. Neither can God be charged with injustice in punishing wicked men that sin necessarily, because they have voluntarily lost their liberty, and drawn this necessity of sinning upon themselves. God made us freemen; we made ourselves slaves, Eccles. 7.29. Use 2 Since we are thus dangerously fall'n, we should be exhorted to labour to rise again by repentance, and by faith in Christ's blood. This is the Prophet's inference here, O Israel return to the Lord thy God, for thou hast fall'n by thine iniquity. Since thou hast fall'n from God by sin, therefore return to him again by repentance. And this we are moved to on the same ground by the Apostle, Ephes. 5.14. Awake thou that sleepest, stand up from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light. And Christ himself hath the same inference in his Epistle to the Church of Ephesus, Remember from whence thou art fall'n, and repent, Revel. 2.5. Object. But possibly you will say, What would you have dead men do, if our fall be such that we have spiritually slain ourselves by it, how can we raise ourselves from this death to life by repentance? Answ. 1 Though of yourselves you cannot repent or believe, yet you can come to the Word which is the instrument to work faith and repentance, to convert you from sin to God; the Law of God is perfect converting the soul, Psal. 19.7. The Gospel preached is God's mighty power to salvation, Rom. 1.16. Saint Paul was sent to the Gentiles, To turn them from darkness to light, from the power of Satan unto God, Act. 26.18. And therefore we should settle ourselves under the means, and bring tractable hearts with us, willing to be new form, and new moulded by this Word. 2. We should pray to Christ to enliven us by his Spirit, for all spiritual life comes from him. Hence he is called the life, Joh. 14.6. the life causally, because he breathes the breath of spiritual life into the souls of his at their regeneration, as he did natural life into Adam at his creation. Verily I say unto you the hour is coming and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God, and they that hear shall live. For as the Father hath life in himself, so hath he given to the Son to have life in himself, Joh. 5.25, 26. That is to say, spiritual life to convey to his members. And the truth is, that there is nothing that can raise us thus dangerously fall'n, but the same power that raised Christ from the dead, Ephes. 1.19, 20. And therefore we must have recourse to to him by prayer, entreating him that he will show his power in raising us thus fall'n. And though it be true that unregenerate men cannot make a prayer that God shall accept as a good work, because they are bad and out of Christ, yet they may make such a prayer as he will in his mercy hear; For he feeds the very young Ravens that call upon him, Psal. 147.9. Thus of the former, I come now to the latter Position, viz. That men must see themselves thus fall'n, and in a lost and undone condition, before they will turn to God by repentance. Hence it is that the Prophets generally show men their sins, and the danger of them, before they exhort men to that duty. Thus the Prophet Esay shown the Jews first their deplorable state by reason of their sins, before he exhorted them to purge themselves from them. He told them that they were worse than the Ox or the Ass; Esay 1.3. that they were like a man leprous from the crown of the head to the sole of the foot, that they were as corrupt as Sodom and Gomorrah before he exhorted them to cleanse themselves by the tears of true repentance, vers. 16. And the same Prophet would have those that followed after righteousness, that sought the Lord, to look first to the Rock from whence they were hewn, and to the hole of the pit from whence they were digged, that they might see their original sin, the fountain and their actual transgression, Esa. 51.1, 2, 3. the streams that issued from thence before he promises them any comfort and consolation. And in another place calleth only those that thirst, that is to say, that are apprehensive of their want and misery by sin, To come unto the waters, Esay 55.1, 2. etc. And our Saviour calls none to him for ease but those that feel their sin a burden, Matth. 11.28. Men must first apprehend themselves sick, or at least in danger, in regard of their health before, they will seek to the Physician; so men must first find themselves sick of sin before they will repair to the Physician of their souls. The whole need not a Physician, but they that are sick. I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance, Matth. 9.12. That is to say, not those that are puffed up with an opinion of their own righteousness, as the Pharisees were, but those that see their sins, and see themselves to be in great danger by reason of them, yea, utterly undone by them. The Reasons are two, whereof the one respects sinners to be converted; the other God, to whom they are to convert and turn. Reas. 1 In regard of sinners, such is the pride of their nature, that they will not humble themselves and seek to him, until they see themselves in extreme need of him, and utterly undone without his mercy, which they can never do without a through sight of the heinousness of their sins. This we may see in the example of the Prodigal, whiles his portion lasted, nay, whiles he could any way subsist without his father, though it were by swine's meat, he could be never brought to think of returning home, but when he was denied the husks of the swine; so that he could by no means subsist without his father, than he resolved to return home to him by weeping cross, and to say, Father I have sinned etc. Luke 15.16, 17. Reas. 2 In regard of God, for he will have men thus lost in their own esteem, before grace be showed them in their conversion, and acceptation, that they may learn to price him and his grace when they do enjoy them: We can never know the worth of grace, unless we know the want of it. And hence we see that CHRIST calleth none unto him, but them that find their want of him: If any man thirst let him come unto me and drink, Joh. 7.37. And let him that is a thirst, come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely, Revel. 22.17. Use 1 This shows the duty of Ministers in this regard, which is to teach men the great misery they are in by reason of their sins, that they are hereby the children of wrath, and liable to eternal death, that so they may turn to God for mercy, and to this end, to show them the heinousness of their sins, and the impossibility to be saved by the covenant of works. Thus doth the Prophet here, Thou hast fallen, etc. And therefore Take unto you words, and turn to the Lord, and say unto him, Take away our iniquity, and receive us graciously. And so doth the Apostle Saint Paul, he tells us again and again, that in the Law we can see nothing but our sins, and our woeful estate by reason of them: By the Law (saith he) comes the knowledge of sin; Rom. 7.7. and he shows that in the Law we may read our condemnation, written in such fair characters, that he that runs may read it. For (faith he) Moses describeth the righteousness that is of the Law, that the man that doth those things shall live in them, Rom. 10.5. and therefore he tells, us that the Law is our schoolmaster to drive us unto Christ, Galath. 3.24. Without all question it is necessary that we should see our sin and danger by reason of it, or else we shall never come to Christ for remission and salvation. 2. This should teach every one that desires to convert and turn to God by repentance, to labour to see how fare he is fall'n from God by sin, and in what misery he is by reason hereof, and to this end he should view his heart and life, not in the false glass of his own or others corrupt opinion or fancy, but in the lookingglass of God's Law that will not flatter him, that so he may see the deformity and filth of the one, and the obliquities and wander of the other, and the just reward of both, viz. eternal wrath and destruction. Unless we all thus do (which Israel at the exhortation of the Prophet here) we shall never turn to the Lord our God, we shall never seek him with earuestnesse, as men undone without it, for grace and mercy, If thou Lord shouldest be extreme to mark iniquity, O Lord who shall stand, but there is mercy with thee, that thou mightest be feared, Psal. 130.3, 4. We must see ourselves utterly undone in rigour of justice, before we will appeal to the Throne of Mercy. Vers. 2, 3. Take with your words, etc. HEre the Prophet shows them the manner how he would have them perform the duty, he would not have them come to the Lord empty, but with these words, Take away all iniquity, and etc. where he doth endeavour to support their infirmity, because a mind astonished knows not what to say, for Curae leves loquuntur ingentes stupent; therefore he prescribes them a short, but a pithy form, Turn to the Lord and say, Take away, etc. Where we have a kind of Antithesis laid down between true and false repentance, as if he should have said, Ye have hitherto sought the Lord with sheep and oxen, chap. 5.6. ye have thought to please him with these sacrifices, which he loathes without true repentance. But now (saith he) Take unto you words, and shows them what words they should use. And lest they should think that there was nothing else but bare words required of them to be uttered like Parrots, without understanding, apprehension, or heart, as hypocrites do, who think they have done enough when they have run over a form of confession and prayers, though after never so heartless a manner; he shows that the thing signified by these words likewise is necessarily required, viz. True conversion and turning to God, that the mouth in prayer may speak from the heart, and the heart by the mouth; and therefore he adds, Turn to the Lord and say, Take away all iniquity, etc. (that is) say it not only with your mouths, but from your hearts. And the form of words prescribed them stands of two parts: First, of a petition for mercy: Secondly, a restipulation of duty; without the one we cannot be saved, without the other we shall show ourselves ungrateful hypocrites; and therefore both are necessary to true conversion. The benefits that he teacheth them to ask of God are two: First, That he would remove all their evils of faults, guilt, and punishment; Take away all iniquity, and they say, All, because they acknowledge themselves guilty, not of one sin, or of a few transgressions, but polluted with many: This is a petition for the remission of sins. Secondly, They are taught to ask acceptation, regeneration by the Spirit, and the continuance of outward benefits in these words, Receive good, as 'tis in the original, that is, take it, as it were, in thine hand to give it us: As Agar took a wife to Ishmael her son, that is, gave him one: Gen. 21.21. And as Christ, when he ascended up on high, received gifts for men, Psal. 68.18. that is to say, to bestow them upon them. The sum of the petition therefore, is, pardon our sins, accept us in Christ, regenerate and guide us by thy Spirit, remove our calamities, and afford us such temporals as are necessary for us. In the restipulation we have a double promise; 1. That they would celebrate the name of God with praise for his mercy, Ashur shall not save, etc. so will we render the calves of our lips. 2. That they would reform their lives, and so; First, That they would renounce all their sins, especially their confidence in creatures and idols. Secondly, That they would endeavour to perform their duties, especially that which they had so much neglected, viz. that they would henceforth depend upon their God, as a pupil or fatherless child upon his guardian. So that in the manner of their repentance prescribed: we have, First, the prescription of a form of Prayer, Take with you words, return, and say. Secondly, the substance of the form prescribed, which stands; First, of a Petition: Secondly, Restipulation. The Petition stands, First, of deprecation for the removal of evil, Take away all etc. Secondly, Supplication for acceptation, and a supply with all benefits spiritual and temporal. In the Restipulation they promise, First, praise for mercies: Secondly, amendment of life. First, that they would abjure and renounce their former evil courses: Secondly, that they would perform neglected duties. I begin with his prescription of a form. In that to help their weakness, he prescribes them one; we may learn, That forms of prayer in some cases may lawfully and warrantably be used. As the people here by our Prophet, so the Priests by the Prophet Joel are prescribed a form; Let the Priests, the Ministers of the Lord weep between the Porch and the Altar, and say, Spare thy people, etc. Joel 2.17. Moses, a Prophet of the Lord, who talked with him face to face, used one form when the Ark set forward, and another when it rested; Arise, O Lord, and let thine enemies be scattered, and let all that hate thee flee before thee. And return, O Lerd, to the many thousands of Israel, Numb. 10.35, 36. And so the Priest used a form of prayer to bless the people withal, Numb. 6.23, 24. The Lord bless thee and keep thee, etc. The Psalms are some of them wholly prayers, and some prayers for the most part, and yet all used by the Jews in the solemn worship of God, in the forms wherein they are written. Our Saviour taught his Disciples a form, saying in one place, After this manner, Matth. 6.9. and in another, When ye pray, say, Luke 11.2. intimating thereby that it may be used as a prayer, so that it be done with understanding and heart, and not used only as a copy to write by. Lastly, the Apostle useth forms of benediction and malediction, Grace to you and peace, etc. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, etc. And since he used short forms, no doubt, but we in some cases may use long ones. Quest. But in what cases may we use them? Answ. 1 In case of infirmity, as here, when Christians for lack of natural abilities, of invention, memory, orutterance, or being newly converted, for want of exercise in the Word of life, and for want of experience are not able to express themselves without a form; there is no doubt but they may make use of a form either written, or printed, or learned by heart. As a man that is lame may make use of his crutches, or a staff to help him to go; so may he that is weak in knowledge and utterance, during the time of his weakness, make use of a form to pray by. Howbeit, when it pleaseth God to give him more strength, Perkins Cases. no doubt he is to lay aside his forms (as a lame man recovered his crutches) and to pray without them. For without question every man is to serve God with his best abilities. 2. In case a man hath occasion to ask again and again, or daily, the same things, there is no question but a man may ask them in the same words, (therefore) a man daily needs pardon of sin, strength of faith, fortitude and patience, etc. There is no doubt but a man may ask these things daily in the same words; to ask the same things in variety of words every time, doth but argue a quick apprehension, and nimble expression; etc. no doubt but he that asks them the same may ask them with as much earnestness and as good an affection as the other. Our Saviour in his agony said, Father if it be possible etc. and went again and again, and used the same words, Matth. 26.49. Not that he that was the eternal Word of the Father wanted variety of words to express himself, but for our example, to show that we may even with zeal and earnestness ask the same things again and again in the same words. Howbeit, for a Christian to be absolutely word-bound, to be tied so to another's form or his own, that he hath no liberty to vary in any expression, is a great bondage and deading to his spirit, and may occasion a great deal of mere formality in prayer. But now when a Christian hath need to ask some special mercy either in his own behalf, or the behalf of his neighbour, or in the behalf of the whole Church of God, or when he receives some new mercy? There is no question but he is to ask the one, and to give thanks for the other in new expressions. This therefore is that which I determine, viz. that weak Christians may use forms as helps to their infirmity, until they gather more strength, and that then they are to lay them aside as a lame man his crutches when he is recovered his lameness. And as for those that are better able, they may ask those things they daily need in the same words, and give thanks for those things they daily receive in the same expressions, so that they look that they be not merely formal in what they do; and that otherwise every grown Christian is to vary as his occasions do vary. Harris in his Queries and cases touching theory and practice of Prayer. And this is the sentence of one of our Divines of that Assembly, that comes behind none of them, as I suppose, for learning, natural abilities, or grace. Use 1 This blames therefore two sorts of men: 1. The Anabaptists, and those of the Separation, that condemn not only corrupt forms, but all forms of prayer, holding the use of them to be a mere superstitious will-worship; for they say it is not to pray in the spirit, and if the forms be composed by others, that it is to worship God by men's inventions. Of whom I would know whether the godly Jews using this form prescribed by the Prophet with a good heart, did pray in the spirit or no? I hope they will not deny it. Next I would know by whose invention they worship God, when they conceive a prayer? If they shall say that 'tis by the invention of the Spirit of God; that is the opinion of the Entheusiasts, which look to have the Spirit put words into their mouths, which is as much as ever it did for the Prophets and Apostles; whereas the Spirit in ordinary times, such as ours only, stirs up holy desires in the soul, the formation of these desires into verbal petitions depends upon men's natural abilities, as we may see by every day's experience, Rom. 8.2. The spirit helpeth our infirmities with sighs and groans, not with words and phrases. There are that look for all those gifts now, that the eminentest in the Apostles times had, viz. That their sons and their daughters shall prophesy, that their old men shall dream dreams, and that their young men shall see visions, Joel 2.28. I am confident that many both old and young in this age dream more dreams, and divulge them too, then tend to the glory of God, or the good of his Church. But why do not these and their children undertake to foretell things to come too, as Agabus and others did in the Apostles times? If they cannot do that, I'll ne'er believe they can speak by the spirit of prophecy. Besides, what do these men think of all those forms of prayer mentioned before, used by Moses, Christ and his Apostles. Object. Reading and praying be two things, therefore a man cannot do both at once, read a form and pray too. Answ. I deny the consequence, they are two such things as may well enough go together. A man may sing and pray, and therefore no doubt he may read and pray too. The modulation of the voice in singing is as likely to take off the heart from the matter, as the use of the eye in reading. 2. Some formalists think that nothing can be done without forms, and therefore when they are in any distress presently they mumble over the Lord's Prayer, or some other that they have learned by rote, without any understanding or heart at all. These are just like our foolish Papists that use their prayers in all temptations and afflictions as charms and spells to remove the evils from them. This is only to take the Lords Name in vain, to abuse his Titles and his Word, and to provoke him to more wrath and indignation against them. Though I like not the former, yet I like these, you must think, worse by many degrees; the former have some goodwill to Religion, though misled; but these are grossly ignorant, and dangerously hypocritical, for they draw near to God with their lips, and honour him with their mouths, when their hearts are not with him. Let me exhort those that in regard of knowledge and utterance cannot pray without the help of a form, to labour to get good and wholesome forms, and to make use of them; we see that the use of them in this case is warranted. But let such take these two cautions along with them: 1. Let them look that they be not merely formal in what they do in this kind. And therefore they should get them such forms as they understand, and must when they have them, look that they utter them with an apprehension and feeling of their own wants in every petition, and with an earnest desire to have them supplied, 'tis the understanding and the fervent prayer that prevails with God, 1 Cor. 14.15, 16. James 5.16. 2. Let them not rest upon forms, thinking they do enough, because they make use of them, and pray by them, but let them resolve to use them only as helps to their dulness and incapacity for a time, with a purpose to lay them aside, when they shall through God's grace and their earnest endeavours get more knowledge and better abilities. And therefore they, yea, all of us, should be much employed in searching out our own wants, and in the study of the holy Scriptures, that in the one we may find matter of Prayer, and in the other we find out fit words and phrases to express ourselves in that variety of occasions that we shall meet withal, in the many turn and wind of our lives. He that takes this course, with a resolution through God's assistance to get ability in this kind, will find a great deal of comfort in it, and get that ability to speak in prayer, pro re nata, as doth almost as much excel forms, as a living man doth a dead cakasse. FINIS.