A53671:264
A brief instruction in the worship of God, and discipline of the churches of…
A brief instruction in the worship of God, and discipline of the churches of the New Testament, by way of question and answer with an explication and confirmation of those answers.
London : s.n., 1667
Modern spelling is a reading aid: the words are the author’s, only the spelling is modernized. Original shows the page as printed, with the transcription marks.
Qu. 36. May not the Church in the solemn warship of God, and celebration of the Ordinances of the Gospel, make use of, and content it self in the use of forms of prayer in an unknown tongue composed by others and prescribed unto them.
An. So to do would be; (1) contrary to one principal end of prayer it self, which is that Believers may therein apply themselves to the throne of grace for spiritual supplies according to the present condition, wants, and exigencies of their souls. (2) to the ma•n end that the Lord Jesus Christ aimed at in supplying men with gifts for the discharge of the work of the ministry, tending to render the the promise of sending the holy Ghost, which is the immediate cause of the ⟨p. 176⟩Churches preservation and continuance, needless, and useless. Moreover (3) It will render the discharge of the duty of Ministers unto several precepts and exhortations of the Gospel, for the use, stirring up and exercise of their gifts impossible, and (4) thereby hinder the edification of the Church, the great end of all Ordinances and institutions. (1) Rom. 8.26. Phil. 4.6. Heb. 4.16. 1 Pet. 4.7. (2) Ephes. 4.8, 12, 13. (3) 1 Tim. 4.14. 2 Tim. 1.6, 7. Colos. 4.17.