id	author	title	date	pages	extension	mime	words	sentence	flesch	summary	cache	txt
A58783	Scott, John, 1639-1695.	Certain cases of conscience resolved concerning the lawfulness of joyning with forms of prayer in publick worship. Part I ...	1683.0		.xml	application/xml	19107	243	10	ONE of the main Points which our dissenting Brethren insist on to justifie their Separation from our Church , is , That our Publick Worship is perform'd in a Form of Words of Man's Invention ; which , they conceive , is unlawful ; for hereby , say some of them , the Holy Spirit , who inspires our Prayer , is stinted and limited , and hereby the Gift of Prayer , say others , which the Holy Spirit communicates to Ministers , to inable them to express the Devotions of their Congregations to God , is rendred useless ; and not only so , but even the Devotions of the Congregation too are mightily deaden'd , by being continually express'd in the same form of words : besides , that the wants of Christians being various , casual , and emergent , cannot be so fully represented in a fixt Form , as in conceiv'd Prayers , which upon the account of their variation in Expressions , may be the better extended to the continual variations of Mens cases and circumstances : besides all which , say they , we have no warrant for the use of Forms , either in Scripture , or pure Antiquity ; and if we had , yet an universal imposition of them , can by no means be lawfully compli'd with : this , according to the best recollection I can make , is the sum of what our Brethren urge against the lawfulness of joyning with us in a stated Liturgy , or Form of Publick Worship : and therefore , in order to the satisfying their Consciences in this matter , I shall reduce their whole Plea to these following Cases , and indeavour a plain and clear resolution of them . But then , 2. It is pretended that conceiv'd Prayer is in it self more apt to fix the Ministers attention in Prayer than Forms , because in conceiv'd Prayer he utters his words immediately from his affections , by reason of which his thoughts have not that scope to wander , as when he reads them out of a Book : to which , in short , I answer , That if he hath devout affections , he may utter his words as immediately from his affections in a Form , as in a conceiv'd Prayer ; and therefore this pretence is altogether insignificant ; for his own invention is as much a medium between his affections and utterance in Praying extempore , as the Book in praying by a Form ; as for instance , suppose that in confessing sin , he be affected with shame and sorrow , he cannot express it in words , but by using his own invention , or a Form , and whether he uses one , or t'other , he uses a medium to express it ; and why those words which he reads should not be as immediate to his affections as those which he invents , provided they do as fully express them , I am not able to apprehend ; in short therefore , if he hath devout affections , they will at least as much confine his thoughts from wandering when he prays by Form , as when he prays Extempore , if he hath not , he cannot utter his words from his affections , either in the one or t'other .	cache/A58783.xml	txt/A58783.txt
