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"I will pray with the Spirit, and I will pray with the "Understanding alfo: Elfe when thou fhalt pray with the "Spirit, how fhall be that occupieth the Room of the "Unlearned fay, Amen, at thy giving of Thanks, feeing he understandeth not what thou fayeft? for thou verily giveft Thanks well, but the other is not edified. "I thank my God'l fpeak with Tongues more than you all; yet in the Church, I had rather speak five Words "with my Understanding, that by my Voice I might teach others also, than ten thousand Words in an un"known Tongue. Let all Things be done to Edity

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ing: If I know not the Meaning of the Voice, I fhall "be to him that fpeaketh a Barbarian, and he that fpeaketh fhall be a Barbarian unto me." And to prevent any Body's explaining his Words otherwife than he exprefly fpoke them, he adds: "It any Man think "himfelf a Prophet or Spiritual, let him acknowledge

that the Things that I write unto you are the Com"mandments of the Lord." It is evident likewife, that the Apostle speaks of the publick Service, and all the Parts thereof. 1ft, Of Petition, v. 15. 2dly, Of Thanksgiving, v. 27. 3dly, Of Prophecying, or Interpreting of Scripture, v. 4. 4thly, Ot finging of Plalms, V. 15. And all this, when the whole Church be come together in one Place, v. 23. Yea, he exprefly fpeaks of Prayers made in the Church, v. 19. Of the Edification of others, v. 12 and 26. And of Bleffings allo, wherein the People were to join with the Minifter; which Prayers, Hymas, Benedictions, Thanksgivings, and Expofitions, did conftitute the Exercife of their publick Worship in thofe Days.

St. James commandeth, that whofoever prayeth, (a) Let him ask in Faith, nothing wavering: "Which neceffarily implies, that we ought to pray to God in a known Tongue; for what Faith or Affurance can he have, that he fhall receive what he prayeth for, that knoweth not what he himfelt fayeth in his Prayers, or

(a) James 1. 6.

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what another prayeth for him, to whofe Prayers he fayeth Amen, as our Papifts, generally do? What wou'd an Indian think if he was to fee a Number of People met together, only to fee a Priest act a wild Part, and hear him mutter a great many Words, which they did not understand one Syllable of? May we not argue against fuch a Practice in the Expreflions of St. Paul, (a) “ If "therefore the whole Church be come together into one. "Place, and all speak with Tongues, and there come in thofe that are unlearned, or Unbelievers, will they not fay that ye are mad?

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The Practice of having Prayers in an unknown Tongue is fo ablurd, that St. Auftin counts it an unhuman, or unmanly, as well as an unchristian Thing; and will not allow it fo much as in our finging of Pfalms, or fpiritual Hymns, faying, (b)" What Profit is there in Speech, "be it never fo perfect, if the Understanding of the "Hearer can not attain it? for there is no Caufe why we fhou'd speak at all, if they understand not what we fpeak, for whofe Sake we (peak, that they may un"derstand us." And again, (c)" What need we fing, "if we understand not what we fing? It is to fing with

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our Voice, and not with our Hearts; for Understand"ing is the Sound, and Voice of the Heart." And in his Expofition on the eighteenth Pfalm, he tells us, "God

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requires that we understand what we fing, like Men "endued with Reason, and not chatter like Birds: "For Parrots, and Mag-pyes, and other Birds, are often taught by Men, to found out that which they know not; but to know what they fing, or to fing with "Knowledge and Understanding is peculiar by God's Will to Man." Much more ought we to regard this in our Prayers, and not to prefume to offer the Sacrifice. of fools, and come under that fevere Reprehension of

(a) I Corin. 14. 23. (b) Aug. de Doct. Chrift. Lib. Cap. 16. (c) Ibidem.

Our

eur Lord: (a) "Well hath Ifaias prophecy'd of you Hypocrites," as it is written, (b) "This People: ho"noureth me with their Lips, but their Heart is far " from me."

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How abhorrent this is from the Practice of the Apoftles, and the Faithful in their Days, and even unknown in the purer primitive Ages, the Popish Authors abundantly teflify. So teftifics Lyra, on the 14th Chapter of St. Paul's first Epistle to the Corinthians. "the primitive Church, fays he, the Bleffings, and all o"ther common Prayers, were performed in the vulgar "Tongue." So faith Getzer, (c) " All Things were dispatched in a Language not unknown or unintelligible

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to the People; and the Cuftom was, that the whole "Church, Prieft, and People, did fing together." And fo a Multitude of their Authors, as Aquinas, Caffander, Erafmus, Bellarmine, all acknowledge, that the publick Prayers in the firft Ages were in a Tongue that the Peopleunderstood.

But, if fo then, why not now? does not the fame Reafon hold good? who hath made this Change? who hath fown thefe new Tares in the Church? how crept in this falfe Doctrine? how grew up this corrupt, abfurd Practice? certainly from no other than that corrupt Root, which gives being to the whole Body of Popery, PRIDE and USURPATION. For when the Bishops of Rome, by the ill Arts before mentioned, had mounted to fuch an eminent Degree of Grandeur in the World, and by their external Luftre obfcured their fellow Bifhops, then rothing wou'd ferve their Turns, but they must be giving: Laws, and preferibing Rules, tho' never fo abfurd and unreasonable. And as Conquerors usually bring in, and frequently impofe their own Language on thofe they have fubdued and intend for their Slaves, fo the Popes made it their Bufinefs to obtrude and plant the Roman Rites, Ce

(a) Mark 7, 6, (b) Ifai. 29. 13. (b) Ifai. 29. 13. (c) Def. Cap..

16. Lib. 2.

remonies;

remonies, and Language, in what other Churches they could, that the fame might afterwards ferve for an Argument of their Jurifdiction, and the other's Dependance: And to establish to themselves an univerfal Tyranny in the Church, they cou'd not think of a fitter Expedient to facilitate fuch their Attempt, than by introducing a general Ignorance, and therefore not only locked up the Scriptures from the People, but likewife enjoin'd them to pray in a Tongue which they did not understand.

Λατεινοσ.

The firft Pope that established this Practice was VitaTian, and it is obfervable, that as Iraneus, who flourished about two hundred Years after Christ, affirm'd, (a) That' the Number of the Beast, 666, was contained in, and fignified the Name Lateinos, the numeral Let30 ters of which Word in Greek make up that Number; so it was 300 in the Year of our Lord, 666, that 5 the faid Pope Vitalian commanded 10 the Latin Service generally to be received in the Western Churches, tho' at that Time in moft Parts, few of the People understood it.

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Sure there cannot be a more ridiculous Piece of Devotion, than that of fuch a Congregation as pretend to be very bufy in the Worship of God, tho' they know not what they are a faying to him. Nay, the Practice of Men telling over their Beads in publick Worfhip, declares, that they belong not to it, and have no Occasion for it; for they cannot in any Sense be said to be at the fame Service, who do not join in the fame Prayer. Astor loftance, if while the Priest fays, Domine non sum dignus, I fay a Pater, and another, an Ave, and a third, an Ora pro nobis; this is no more one Service than it is an Harmony, when every one fings and plays what comes

(a) Rev. 13.

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into his Fancy, without regarding the Tune, or the Chorus of his Fellow-Muficians in the Confort; whereas, if they were feparated, every Man apart might make fome kind of Mufick. Therefore, every understanding Chriftian may be affur'd, that what is done publickly in a Church, in a strange Language, not underflood by the People, (a) "Profiteth not the Congregation; edi"fieth not the Weak; inftructeth not the Ignorant; in"flameth not the Zeal; (b) "Off:ndeth the Hearers; "abufeth the People; displeafeth God; bringeth Re"ligion into Contempt:" And neither is the Word of God regarded, nor the Cuftom of the purer and primitive Church obferved in that unrighteous Practice.

(a) 1 Cor. 14. (b) Matt. 15. 18.

CHAP.

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