The Novelty of Popery Opposed to the Antiquity of True Christianity, Book 7 · Treatise · Chapter 3
CHAP. III. Of prayers of particular perſons in a tongue unknown to the very perſons that pray.
I. PRayer is a requeſt or ſupplication which man preſenteth unto God, ſuggeſted by the ſenſe of our want and need. It is begging alms at Gods hands. Hence it followeth, that he that prayeth, muſt do it according to his ſenſe, and fit his prayers to his need. This cannot be done by him that prayeth, not underſtanding himſelf. Many times it comes to paſs, that he who hath an intention to ask ſomething at Gods hands, ſaith in his Latine prayer things remote from his intention. Thus Gallants and Ladies that underſtand Latine as well as Greek, ſay their ſeven Pſalms in Latine, in which David being ſick, complaineth that his wounds ſtink and are corrupt,Pſ. 38. & 143. and that his loyns are filled with a loathſom diſeaſe, or being perſecuted by Saul, complaineth that he is confined to a dark Cave. It is like that poor woman pronouncing theſe things in Latin thinks that ſhe asketh ſalvation, or the remiſſion of her ſins.
II. The Apoſtle James chap. 1. will have him that asketh ſomething of God, to ask it in faith, nothing doubting. Now it is not poſſible to ask any thing at Gods hands in faith, and with a full certainty, when a man doth not know what he asketh of God; for Faith implyeth knowledge. Wherefore alſo the Lord Jeſus commonly joyneth knowledge with faith; As Joh. 10.38. That you may know and believe that the Father is in me; And 17. chap. ver. 8. They have known and believed that thou haſt ſent me. Iſa. 53.11.Wherefore whereas St. Paul ſaith ſo often, that we are juſtified by Faith, Iſaih ſaith that we are juſtified by knowledge.
III. One cannot call a man an ideot in clearer terms then by ſaying to him, You know not what you ſay. But all things which in the civil converſation ſhould be held abſurd, paſs for good in the Roman Religion; As if Religion were made to overthrow common ſenſe, and to be a receptacle of abſurdities; And that which in other caſes is folly, is here devotion. God then ſhall do juſtly to grant nothing to him that knoweth not what he asketh, and by conſequent knoweth not what God grants or denieth him.
IV. Here experience and neceſſity correct men whether they will or no. For a man that hath made his prayers in Latine all his Life, not underſtanding what he ſaid, will alter his Language in ſudden afflictions, and in ſharp pains. Then he will ſend up fervent prayers unto God in his ordinary tongue. A man in the laſt agony or tyed already to the gallows, will not (unleſs he be altogether bruitiſh) ſay the Beati quorum, or the Pater noſter in Latine.
V. Is it not a pretty Pageant, when a woman ſaith a Latine prayer which ſhe underſtands not to St. Mary the Egyptian, or to Mary Magdalen, which never underſtood Latine? And though they had learned Latine in Paradiſe, yet it is nothing to underſtand the voice without knowing the heart. He that is prayed to, muſt know the faith and the repentance of the perſon that prayeth, elſe he may grant the prayer of an hypocrite. Now the word of God teacheth us that God alone knoweth the hearts of men, 2 Chron. 6.30.
VI. What an object of compaſſion is a woman, or a mean tradeſman who prayeth to St. Ʋrſula, or St. Margaret, or St. Katherine, or St. Chriſtopher, or St. Martial, or St. Longinus, or St. Lazarus, Patron of the Lepers, or the eleven thouſand Virgins, which are Saints, that never were men or women, and are put in heaven, having never lived on earth? By this means he that prayeth ſpeaks to a Saint that is not, in a tongue which the man that prayeth underſtands not, which is the ſuperlative degree of abſurdity. Hi non ſunt vituli labiorum, ſed labia vitulorum.
VII. If to a man that prayeth in Latine, not knowing what he ſaith, one had given a Fable of Eſope, perſwading him that it is a Prayer to the Virgin Mary; ſuch a man pronouncing that Fable with fervent affection, ſhould pray in Faith according to the Doctrine of the Roman Church, and ſhould not loſe the merit of his Prayer.
VIII. If a Frenchman that underſtands not High Dutch, came to petition his King in that Language, the King, though himſelf underſtood High Dutch, would either think himſelf abuſed by that diſcourſe, or would think the man to be out of his ſenſes.
IX. In this point Chriſts example ought to be our rule; For when he preſcribed a Form of Prayer to his Diſciples, he gave them one in their mother Tongue, ſaying, when you pray, ſay, Our Father which art in heaven, &c. He gave them not that Prayer in Welch or in Arabick, for he would have them to know what they asked of God in their Prayer, and what the things were of which they ſtood in need.
X. That Prayer is made with ſuch an excellent Art, that the Chriſtian ſpeaking to God ſpeaks alſo to himſelf, and that every Petition is a Precept. For as Gods Commandments are the matter of our Prayers, and teach us what we ought to ask of God, ſo the queſtions which God hath preſcribed unto us contain Commandments. By asking of God that his Kingdom come, we oblige our ſelves to labour for the advancement of that Kingdom. By asking that the name of God be hallowed or ſanctified, we are taught to ſanctifie it. And we are inſtructed by that Prayer not to covet the bread of another; to pardon thoſe that have offended us, and to flye the temptations of the evil one. Which inſtructions cannot be apprehended by him that underſtands not himſelf, and prayeth in a Tongue which he underſtands not.
XI. It is true that God underſtands all Languages, but he requireth alſo that he that ſpeaks to him know what he ſaith, and ſpeak as a man and a reaſonable creature, that is, with reaſon and underſtanding. God indeed underſtands thy Latin, but he underſtands alſo that thou underſtandeſt not thy ſelf. It is a great abuſe to think that we ſpeak unto God that he may underſtand our Language; for before we open our mouth he knoweth our thoughts; and it is he that puts Prayer in the heart of thoſe that fear him. Now it is the heart that muſt move the lips, and ſuggeſt unto our mouth things conformable unto our thought.
XII. Thus did the Prophets pray. David prayed in his own Tongue, and left to the Iſraelites Pſalms in a Language which they underſtood. And they reading Davids Pſalms had that holy comfort, of which the Roman Church hath deprived herſelf; for what comfort is there in reading David's Pſalms privately, or hearing them read publickly, when they are in an unknown Language?Luke 15.21.
XIII. The Prodigal Son returning to his Father, and ſaying, Father, I have ſinned againſt heaven and before thee, and am no more worthy to be called thy ſon, underſtood himſelf. And ſo did the poor Publican beating his breaſt and ſaying, God be merciful to me a ſinner.Luke 18.13.
XIV. Thus did the antient Chriſtians pray. For the Apoſtle, Col. 3.16. had taught them to admoniſh one another in Pſalms and Hymns. So prayed Paul being at Philippi, by a river ſide where Prayer was wont to be made. For Lydia the Seller of Purple had not had her heart touched, neither with his prayers,Acts 16.13. nor with his exhortations, if he had prayed or preached in a Language which ſhe underſtood not. And none hitherto hath doubted that the Church of Jeruſalem in the Apoſtles time prayed in their vulgar tongue, when they prayed for the deliverance of the Apoſtle Peter out of priſon; and that Fathers praying in their Family were underſtood by their children.
XV. The Apoſtle Paul in his firſt Epiſtle to the Corinthians, beſtoweth a whole Chapter upon this matter. It is the fourteenth, where he condemneth prayers in unknown Language. If (ſaith he) I know not the meaning of the voyce, Verſ. 11.I ſhall be unto him that ſpeaketh a Barbarian, and he that ſpeaketh ſhall be a Barbabarian unto me. If he forbid Chriſtians to be Barbarians to others, how much more to be Barbarians to themſelves? And in the 15. verſe, I will pray with the Spirit, but I will pray with underſtanding alſo. But of that Text we ſhall treat more ar large, when we ſpeak of publick Prayers.
XVI. Thomas Harding an Engliſh Doctor of Lovain, and a buckler of Popery in England, in his Treatiſe of Prayers in a ſtrange Tongue, in the 33 Queſtion, is forced by the evidence of truth, and makes a ſelf-condemning confeſſion, ſaying,(b)Eſt optabilius ut populus preces publicas vernaculâ ſuâ lingua recitaret. It were to be wiſht, that the people ſhould ſay publick prayers in their vulgar tongue. And in the 29 Section he acknowledgeth (c)Non poteſt populus fatcor dicere Amen, ad benedictionem Sacerdotis aeque ac ſi Latinam linguam perfecte calleret.that the people cannot ſo eaſily ſay Amen to the Prieſts bleſſing as if they underſtood Latin perfectly.