Selected quad for the lemma: duty_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
duty_n	pray_v	prayer_n	word_n	4,036	5	4.6953	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A87871	A discourse of praying with the spirit, and with the understanding. Where of extemporary premeditate set forms of prayer. Preached in two sermons at Hillsborough anno 1659. By Henry Leslie (maugre all antichristian opposition) Bishop of Down and Conner. And now published for the redresse of the great abuse of prayer in that diocesse, whereof he had, and ought to have a charge. Whereunto is annexed a letter of Jer. Taylor, D.D. concerning the same subject.	Leslie, Henry, 1580-1661.; Taylor, Jeremy, 1613-1667.	1660 (1660)	Wing L1162; Thomason E1041_4; ESTC R207928	28,259	45

Sine indecore non potest Seneca as wise a man as he said nihil ordinatum est quod praecipitatur properat There can be no order in sudden conceptions Since therefore it is undecent unorderly let it be consider'd how such persons can observe the precept of the Apostle let all things in the church be done decently and in order If it be asked by any man whether it be unfit to use in private forms of our own composing I answer it may be very fit but this is because this rule of the Apostle which wholly relates to the publick is not a provision for the private for decency is a relative term so is order in private we may deliberate upon our knees but in publick we cannot although we must neither in publick nor in private speak hastily rashly or without sufficient deliberation yet we may do that in private which in publick we may not there we are only to avoid rashness hastiness but in publick we must take care of order also of decency of edification of others all which by extempore prayers cannot be well provided for but my Lord I forget the purpose of my letter which is to pay to your Lordship that just acknowledgment of your care of the Churches good the instruction of souls which you have expressed in this material plain easy religious discourse which I pray God may prove as profitable as it is rational as useful as it is pious My Lord I am Your Lordships most affectionate Brother and Servant J. T. I COR. XIV.XV. What is it then I will pray with the Spirit and will pray with the understanding also THis Text is much abused in this age to justifie praying ex tempore whereby they have destroyed the right use of Prayer and indeed have left us nothing which can truely and properly be called the publick worship of God And it is the highest pitch of sacriledg to make the Scripture it self patronize impiety which we are all bound to oppose and to contend for our most holy faith against them who now under pretence of the Spirit do but cheat you out of your Religion Therefore knowing that I must shortly lay down this my earthly Tabernacle and that I am not like to speak again in publick I desire now to discharge my Conscience as touching that practise and to undeceive the World if it be possible or at least to vindicate this text from being guilty of such prophanation of prayer by shewing the true sense and meaning of it which by the help of God I shall make appear clearly out of the context it self which is the surest way of expounding Scripture And first I desire you to look into the scope and drift of the Apostle who throughout this whole Chapter speaketh of spirituall gifts shewing that all of them are to be referred unto edification as to the right and proper end and therefore he preferreth prophecying or the gift of expounding Scripture before the gift of speaking with tongues because it tendeth more to the edification of the Church ver 3 4 5. And upon the same ground he preferreth prayer in a language that is understood before prayer in an unknown tongue for saith he in the words going before my text If I pray in an unknown tongue my Spirit prayeth that is my minde inspired with that gift doth its part but my understanding is unfruitfull because I do not profit others and so in the words which I have read he resolves what is to be done What is it then that is what is then to be done and he makes answer I will pray with the Spirit and will pray with understanding also Where he expresseth what is to be done by his own resolution which he propounds as a direction for others For when he saith I will pray with the Spirit it is as much as if he had said and I would have you to pray with the Spirit but to pray with understanding also In the words we have two things to consider 1. the duty to be performed is to pray I will pray 2. The manner how it is to be performed exprest in two things first with the Spirit I will pray with the Spirit and then With the understanding also The duty is to pray whereby we are to understand the whole worship of God by invocation I cannot better define what prayer is then the School-men have done in few words calling it desiderium piae mentis ad Deum the unfolding of the desires of an holy mind unto God The Apostle 1. Tim. 2.1 brancheth it into four parts supplications prayers intercessions and giving of thanks 1. Supplication or deprecation for the averting of evil all evill both of sin and of punishment and so it relates to the confession of sin and presupposeth an humble acknowledgment of our offences and of that miserable estate wherein we stand by reason of sin 2. Prayers are the petitions which we make for the good which we want even for all things necessary as well for the body as for the soul for this life as for that better life which is to come 3. Intercessions are the prayers which we put up in behalf of others 4. Giving of thanks when we praise God for his mercies and benefits conceived these four make up a compleat Office of prayer And the Apostle in that place will have Timothy and the rest of the Bishops within his Province to keep a constant publick Office of devotion consisting of these four and so they did for St. Chrisostome tells us that all these were used in the Church in his time and long before And so it appeareth by the Antient Greek Liturgies yet extant Thus you see what it is to pray This is the first and chiefest of all duties The Apostle doth challenge a priority unto it saying I exhort that first of all Supplications and prayers be made he will have that done first of all because it is the first and chiefest for dignity for we honour God by prayer more then we can any other way acknowledging him to be the knower of our hearts the giver of all good and so the stay of our faith and hope in whom only we do trust and we are highly honored for by prayer we have commerce and conference with God we enter into acquaintance and familiarity with him and even walk with God as Enoch did prayer is the first thing wherewith a godly life beginneth and the last thing wherewith it doth end The Saints and Angels in Heaven continually pray and praise God singing Hallelujahs unto God and to the lamb that sitteth on the throne and therefore seeing it is a work common to the Church triumphant as well as militant common to Men with Angels we may well reckon so much of our time as is spent in this holy exercise to be Celestial and Divine And as prayer is the chiefest of all duties for dignity so it is

of great force and efficacy St. James saith the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous Man availeth much Cap. 5.16 it availeth to the turning away of all evil from us and to the procuring of all good unto us it is the key that openeth the Cabinet of Heaven and draweth down Gods blessings upon us it is the bucket wherewith we draw grace out of the well of Salvation it is our strong tower whether we betake our selves in the time of trouble it is the weapon wherewith we put to flight all our Enemies spiritual and corporal Prayer conquereth Heaven and even overcometh God himself for Exod. 33.10 when Moses came to interceed for the People after their great transgression the Lord said unto him Let me alone that I may consume them as if he had found himself mastered by Moses his prayer and could not destroy them unless Moses did forbear to pray for them And if prayer be of such force you may be sure that it is most necessary It is necessary both necessitate finis and necessitate praecepti both in respect of the end that our own wants may be supplied and in respect of Gods commandement it being a duty which he requireth from us But I cannot now stand to speak of these things This holy religious duty of service concerns us one way as we are Men another way as we are parts of a community members of the Church and so prayer is either private or publick For private prayer we are at our own choice for time place and form according to the exigence of our occasions in private But publick prayer requires a certain time a publick place a consecrated person and known form wherein all may joyn this publick prayer is of farr more worth then the private prayer of any one for it is more forcible and likely to prevail with God by reason of the multitude of suppliants who being assembled together do besiege God with their prayers saith Tertullian and these forces are unto him acceptable Now it is of publick prayer that the Apostle speaks here for he speaks of prayer in the Church when they are assembled together which he will have so done that the Church may understand and be edified by it In our private devotions we may use any language which we our selves understand but the Minister of publick prayer must use only that language which is commonly understood by the People and so pray not only with the Spirit but with the understanding also And so I am come to the manner how this duty is to be performed exprest in two things with the Spirit First I will pray with the Spirit What Spirit we need not travail far to find out what is meant by the Spirit albeit it hath many divers acceptions in Scripture For what the Apostle calls the spirit in this Text he calls his Spirit in the former verse If I pray in an unknown tongue my Spirit prayeth And it is not likely that he would call any thing his Spirt but his own natural Spirit called the Spirit of a Man Cap. 2.11 Who knoweth the things of a Man save the Spirit of a Man That is his mind But then you may say unto me how comes the Spirit here to be opposed unto the understanding I answer that albeit the Spirit and understanding be here distinguished yet they are not distinct faculties but one and the same faculty even the mind of Man which in one respect is called the Spirit in another the understanding It is called the Spirit either as it is ravished beyond it self by Divine inspiration or as it is elevated above it self by illumination or as it is inflam'd with earnest and ardent affection And the same faculty when it is imployed to teach others and to make them understand what it hath conceived is called the understanding so that to pray with the Spirit signifieth three things 1. To pray by immediate inspiration which was peculiar to the Prophets Apostles and those who had extraordinary indowments 2. To pray by the direction and assistance of the holy Spirit which is common to all believers 3. To pray fervently with earnest and ardent affection Here are three senses of praying with the Spirit also found in Scripture and a fourth sense no man can imagine nor any thing in this phrase which favoureth our praying ex tempore First to pray with the Spirit is to pray by immediate inspiration when he that prayeth is the mere organ of the Spirit uttering only that which the Spirit of God doth dictate he maks no use of his own Judgment and reason either in divising of the matter or choosing of the words but speaks only that which the Spirit doth suggest Thus the Apostles Prophets and penmen of holy writ were inspired for St. Peter saith 2 Pet. 1.21 they speak as they were moved by the Holy-Ghost And after this manner were they inspired who had the gift of tongues after that miraculous effusion of the Spirit on the day of Pentecost for saith the Evangelist they speak with other tongues Act. 2.4 as the Spirit gave them utterance Of these the Apostle speaks here and throughout this whole Chapter for there were at that time divers such in the Church of Corinth who sopke prayed and sung in an unknown tongue whereby the People were not edified but amazed and the Apostle here corrects the abuse of that gift and will have all gifts used to edification so that if any man make use of the gift of tongues in the Church he will either have him to interpret what he saith ver 5. Greater is he that prophesieth then he that speaketh with tongues except he interpret that the Church may receive edifying And ver 13. Let him that speaketh in an unknown tongue pray that he may interpret Or he will have some other to interpret for him Ver. 27. If any Man speak in an unknown tongue let one interpret Or if there be no interpreter then he will ha●e him to hold his peace and make no use of that gift in the Church ver 28. But if there be no interpreter let him keep silence in the Church for that miraculous gift of tongues was given for the conversion of the Nations as he saith verse 22. Tongues are for a sign that is a miracle not to them that believe but to them that believe not As if he should say there is no Use of that Gift among believers who had no need so to be convinced by miracles but to be edifyed by wholsome Doctrine Now our Apostle as he had the gift of tongues and spake with tongues more then they all as he saith ver 18. so he had the gift of interpretation and therefore resolves that if he made any use of that gift in the Church he would so interpret what he said that the Congreation should understand him And this is the true meaning of the words of my Text as they are well glost by Piscator I