Committee of very learned, judicious, and pious Men, as by a fingle Perfon, let his Qualifications for praying be ever fo great; and fuffer the Ufe of it to be impofed upon them by publick Authority, as well as by the Authority of their own Teacher only. And this Argument is much ftrengthened, when we confider, what Dr. Watts acknowledges and bewails, the Incapacity of many of his Brethren for fuch an Exercise, the Crudeness and Jejunenefs, and many other Defects of their Prayers. Indeed it must be fo; as, no doubt, it would be in the established Church, if all the Clergy were to ufe Prayers of their Own compofing, after the manner of the Dif Jenters. This Argument, I confefs, proceeds upon a Poftulatum that all the Diffenters will not grant, viz. that their publick Prayers, and ours, are the Compofitions of human Abilities, affifted only by the common and ordinary Influences of the Holy Spirit. The famous Barklay answers for the Body of the Quakers. He enters their Proteft in the following Words, Pag. 348 of his Apology. "But the LiWill-Worship. "mitation we condemn is, that "whereas the Spirit of God fhould be the "immediate Actor, Mover, Perfuader, and In"fluencer of Man in the particular Acts of

F

Worship, when the Saints are met together, "this Spirit is limited in its Operations by fet

ting up a particular Man, or Men, to teach "and pray, in Man's Will; and all the reft "are excluded from fo much as believing that they are to wait for God's Spirit to move

L 4

"them

"them in fuch Things; and fo they neglecting "that which fhould quicken them in them"felves, and not waiting to feel the Breathings

of God's Spirit, so as to obey them, are led "to depend merely upon the Preacher, and "hear what he will fay.

True teaching of the Word

of God.

Secondly, in that these peculiar "Men come not thither to meet "with the Lord, and to wait for the inward Motions and Operations of his Spirit; and fo pray as they feel the Spirit to "breathe through them, and in them; and to

preach, as they find themselves acted and "moved by God's Spirit, and as he gives Utter

ance, fo as to speak a Word in Season to "refresh weary Souls, and as the prefent State' and Condition of the Peoples Hearts require, "fuffering God by his Spirit both to prepare Peoples Hearts, and alfo give the Preacher "to speak what may be fit and feasonable for them; but he hath hammered together, in! his Clofet, according to his own Will, by "his human Wisdom and Literature, and by

ftealing the Words of Truth from the Letter "of the Scriptures, and by patching together "other Mens Writings, fo much as will hold "him fpeaking an Hour while the Glass runs ; "and without waiting and feeling the inward "Influence of the Spirit of God, he declaims "that by bap-hazzard, whether it be fit and fea

fonable for the Peoples Condition, or no, and "when he has ended his Sermon, he faieth his Prayer alfo in his own Will, and fo there is an "end

66

"end of the Bufinefs." For the Credit of Chrif tianity, and the Honour of the holy Spirit, I am glad that this Gentleman wrote only in Man's Will, by bammering his Book in his Clofet, for he has not ftolen the Truth from the Letter of the Scriptures, and it is hap-bazzard whether any of his Readers can tell what he means by the Spirit's quickening them in themselves, and breathing through them, and in them, &c. For my own. part, I own myself uninhightened by fuch Phrafes, and expect to remain in Darkness: Thus much, however I can understand from the whole, that the Quakers pretend to preach and pray, without any Affiftance from human Wisdom, and human Literature, by the immediate Infpiration of the Spirit; first moving them to pray and preach, and afterwards dictating to them the Matter, the Order, and Words; in fhort, the whole of their Prayers and Sermons. This Gentleman wrote his Apology in the Name of the Body of the Quakers, and under the Character of a Proteftant, while his Book is a Refinement upon Popery, and carries the Claim to Infallibility much higher than any of the Papifts ever did. The Papifis only affert that there is, fomewhere, (for it is not yet determined where it refts) in their Church an Infallible Judge of Controverfies, in order to preserve the Peace of the Chriftian Society; but no Papifts, nor any body elfe before the Rise of Quakerifm, ever maintained that any Man who has an Imagination warm enough to make him fanfy that he feels the inward Motion, and Direction of the Spirit is infpired by him.

In

In Modefty and Prudence they ought to have better Proofs, to themfelves, of their Inspiration, than a fanciful feeling of the inward Breathings of the Spirit; and I am fure the rest of the World must be more than Imprudent if they give them Credit without fome fuch external Proofs, as the Prophets and Apoftles gave, of their being moved by the Holy Ghost.

The reft of the Diffenters make no fuch large Pretenfions to the Influence of the Spirit as these Men do; but they have a general Notion of their Teacher's praying, though not preaching, by the Spirit, and that their being tied up to the Ufe of Forms of Prayer would be ftinting the Spirit, and making the Service only Will-worship. As this Opinion is grounded upon a mistaken Interpretation of fome Texts of Scripture in St. Paul's Epiftles; Archbishop Sharp, from thofe Words, What is it then? I will pray with the Spirit, I will pray with the Understanding alfo, 1 Cor. xiv. 15, has explained the feveral Texts with inimitable Perfpicuity, and truly Christian Temper; and I cannot do better than to transcribe what he has faid in his own Words. They are in Vol. the IVth, of his Sermons, Page 105.

The Method I fhall take in the difcuffing this Point fhall be to make out these four following Propofitions; which if they can be 'made out, all the Difficulty that feems to be in this Argument does perfectly vanish.

First of all therefore, I fhall fhew, that praying by the Spirit in the Sense that the Apostle meant, is fo far from being a perpetual • Duty

Duty requir'd of all Chriftians, that as far as we know, no Chriftian now living can with Rea⚫ fon pretend to that Gift.

Secondly, I fhall fhew that That which is now called praying by the Spirit, that is, the conceiving of Prayers on a fudden without Study and Premeditation, and expreffing our Conceptions with great Fluency and Moving• nefs of Words and Geftures, is fo far from being the immediate Effect of the Spirit of 'God, that generally fpeaking it is the Effect ⚫ of Art or Industry, or a prefent Heat of Temper.

<

Thirdly, I fhall fhew, that if there be any other Notion of praying by the Spirit in Scripture, fuch as is to be extended to all Times and Ages of Christianity, and is not peculiar to the Apoftolical Age, that Notion will every Jot as well fit and fuit with fet Forms of Prayer, as with those Prayers that we call Extemporary.

Fourthly, I fhall fhew, that though we fhould fuppofe that God, even in these Days, doth affift Men, both as to the Matter, and even the Words of their Prayers, yet we have 'more Reason to believe that the publick Pray< ers of the Church were indicted and contrived by that Spirit of God, than we have to believe that any Man's private Prayers are; and confequently that when we use them, we pray as much by the Spirit as when we use fudden conceived Prayers.

I begin with the firft of thefe Propofitions, which is this, That praying by the Spirit in the • Senfe