Selected quad for the lemma: authority_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
authority_n	act_n	estate_n	parliament_n	2,433	5	7.1853	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A96831	Beaten oyle for the lamps of the sanctuarie; or The great controversie concerning set prayers and our liturgie, examined in an epistle to a private friend: with an appendix that answers the paralell, and the most materiall objections of others against it. Unto which are added some usefull observations touching Christian libertie, and things indifferent.	Womock, Laurence, 1612-1685.	1641 (1641)	Wing W3338; Thomason E163_14; ESTC R4346	40,803	77

of Revel 5.9 is not stiled new in respect of the matter or composition but because the ioy of the Choristers is uncessant in it's satiety How often doe those flaming Seraphins repeat their Allelujahs and yet not guilty of a vaine Tautologie Revel 19. Why hath the spirit of God endited so many Psalmes of praise and petition not so much to be rules of faith as formes of devotion and so David and his followers ever vs'd them But to produce evidence beyond exception our Saviour himself prescrib'd a form that was alwaies had in veneration else the Canker-fret of superstition could never have eaten so deepe into it Let not us run so farre from the folly of the Church of Rome till we be driven into the other extreame by Antiparistasis J know there is a safe medium betwixt the pinnacle of the Temple and headlong precipitancy and it is Satan tempts and carries men from one of these extreames to the other while the golden meane is rarely pitcht upon Let not Our Father bee excommunicate because others have plaied the Harlots with Pater Noster This is a summe and rule to teach us to compile our devout thoughts into forme and method and the holy scriptures are not without presidents to this purpose A forme is the first furniture that Timothy must provide for the house of a 1 Tim. 2.1 I exhort 't is not that you pray for all but that first of all prayers bee made for all men they must be made i.e. set prayers God Saint Paul prayed thrice against one infirmitie and if wee pray for the same thing why may we not use the same words Doe we pray to redresse our language or our wants or is God taken with the variety of our expressions Surely Christ would then haue us'd it in his Agony He prayed earnestly and yet said the same words b Mat. 26.44 Why should the holy Ghost tell us this if it were not for our instruction Let a man use the oldest formes of prayer extant if no prejudice lye against his person and his intentions be undiscovered in this tryall and you will find they sound as well in your eares and I am perswaded in Gods to as those extemporary ones which pretend the prerogative of a free Spirit You doe but put your selfe into more private Chaines while you seeke to obtaine your libertie Let a man poure out his soule with never so much freedome vet his words to others are a stinted forme and set limits to his Competitioners that assist him Doe you thinke that God sheds and infuseth the Spirit of supplication into all his Saints in that measure that he did the gift of prophecie into the Apostles That 's a priviledge proper to his extraordinary ministers whom he furnisht with immediate and infallible inspiration The ministers of the Church that waite in Ordinary have no gifts conferred upon them that exempt them from meanes meditation and industry much lesse can others of the Saints pretend to such an absolute assistance 'T is confest that a Habit of prayer may be acquired by use and exercise and this is the holy usury by which we make a gaine of grace infused But then I must tell you this very Habit is an Idea an internall modell or platforme of prayer if not it must needs be Mother of a disorderly and deformed off-spring So that this very habituall prayer hath a formall d Rom. 2.20 Which hast the forme of knowledge and of the truth in the law impression in the soule as well as that other hath in paper hereupon the mind as 't is often stil'd in Scripture e Apoc. 20.12 is in stead of a booke to him that prayeth And therefore thus much must be granted that if a blind man officiates according to a set Liturgy he prayes with as much freedome of Spirit as he that vtters nothing but the dictates of his bosome We busie our thoughts to summe up and suggest our wants before we addresse our selves to our devotion and why not our words also without the first we know not what to aske and so are apt to run beyond our line of sobriety with the Sons of Zebedee Mat. 20.22 without the latter we know not how to aske and so stand upon equall tearmes of exigence with the Disciples when they besought Christ to prescribe a forme for them Luke 11.1 'T is the work of the spirit to give the affection rather then the utterance of prayer we have tongues of our owne we want but a gracious affection to imploy them Grace doth not destroy nor exempt but perfects nature God indeed must open his prophets lips before his mouth can shew forth his prayse because hee gives both authority and ability to his ministers But I doe not remember hee is any where said to give the tongue though he be said to give the Spirit of supplication And this Spirit helps the infirmities of our hearts rather then those of our language The Messengers of God are assisted by the Spirit as well in preaching as in prayer and yet we see their best Sermons are set or written ones God will have his Prophet eate the Roule before he utters it Ezek. 3.1 And 't was no blemish to a Rom. 8. That of Psal 45.1 my tongue is the pen c. and Luke 12.12 and St Paul his doore of utterance were gifts extraordinary St. Iohn that hee was commanded to eate the booke before he prophesied Apoc. 10.10 If the Church by the Spirit of God assisting it put a Liturgy into our mouthes why can wee not digest it Is it a forme you stick at The words of every minister you joyne with doe confine you Is it the intention of the minister you call for which you suspect is wanting in a familiar forme that is Popery Gods promise hath entaild his grace upon his ordinance not tied it to the qualification of the instrument Is it the repetition of the same prayer that is offensive Christ said the same words thrice in prayer almost without intermission And if you will read a Chapter or heare the doctrine of salvation read familiarly to encrease your faith why will you not make your selfe familiar with a forme of prayer to exercise your charitie especially considering the heart doth her worke with more attention when there is least imployment for the understanding * See Granods advise for meditation The soule should not be in travell with words when shee is conceived with devotion Doe you scruple at authority which commands it as if that bereaved you of your Christian libertie Consider if your selfe have not had a singer in this hand of Authority and so are become a Lawgiver to your selfe There is not a member of the Kingdome but is interpreted to consent to the Acts of the three estates of Parliament which have confirm'd our Liurgie Did you protest against it or any for you when it was a voting If you will be