Selected quad for the lemma: lord_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
lord_n	incline_v	law_n	mercy_n	16,188	5	9.8317	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A93426	A manifestation of prayer in formality, and prayer in the spirit of God.	Smith, William, d. 1673.	1663 (1663)	Wing S4314; ESTC R184395	4,756	1

A Manifestation of Prayer in Formality and Prayer in the Spirit of God IT hath been a Common Observation through Ages and Generations to perform something as a duty unto God by way of Prayer and this Common Observation hath descended from one Generation to another ever since the Apostacy entred in a customary and formal way still observing the practice in words and continuing the same as a duty unto God in the same manner and form not at all regarding or considering the present want or necessity of the present Age or Generation nor the present states and conditions of particular people but praying in the same words and in the same form from time to time and from Generation to Generation and so it flows as a natural stream in a common and customary practice from one Generation to another and hence it is that people continue asking but do not receive because they ask amiss not feeling the Spirit that makes intercession and so the Pharisees made long prayers but received the greater damnation because they prayed not in the Spirit but in the customary formality which by the Spirit was condemned And it is very sad that people should all their life-time be complaining and asking and never come to receive satisfaction and this in the common way of Prayer in this present Generation who have many prayers in formed words and with their mouths do often repeat them and in the formality make a practice of them and so at set-times and in set-prayers spend away their dayes but feel not the Lord nor his goodness And this Common way of Prayer now used in the Common Worship never brings people to obtain but keeps them alwayes asking where in answer to the Commandments they pray on this wise Lord have mercy upon us and encline our hearts to keep this Law and write all these thy Laws in our hearts we beseech thee Now if they would encline their hearts to the Spirit of God in themselves and obey it then the Spirit would encline their hearts to keep God's Law and the Spirit would write his Law in their hearts and put it into their inward parts and it would keep them that they should not depart from it and there they would feel God's mercies and so come to receive an answer of their prayers For when the heart of man doth not encline to the Spirit of God it is in rebellion against him and God doth not shew mercy to the rebellious and so people pass over their time in words but want the Life which should do them good and when they come to finish their dayes their hearts are as far off from Gods Law as the first day when they began to pray that he would incline their hearts to keep it and they have no assurance that God will shew them mercy though they have been praying in words all their life-time And likewise in answer to the Lettany where they pray after this manner Good Lord deliver us and We beseech thee to hear us good Lord and this is the same in their latter dayes as in the beginning and it is manifest that they are not delivered from those things as in words they pray to be delivered from nor are not heard in those things which they beseech the Lord to hear them in and so they spend their daies in observing a customary formality and never come to any assurance that they are delivered or that their requests are heard and answered And again in that which they call the Creed they confess they believe in God now they that believe in God their hearts are enclined to keep his Law and he shews them Mercy and hears them and delivers them for they that believe in God they do his will and if any man do his will him he heareth And then again they confess that they are miserable sinners and do those things they ought not to do and if so then not Believers for they that believe in Christ are not miserable sinners neither do those things they ought not to do but by believing in Christ they are saved and he takes away their sin that makes them miserable and sets them free from their misery and they do those things that are well-pleasing in his sight for they that truly believe in Christ they do not only confess their sins but also forsake them and so find mercy with the Lord and they are not alwayes complaining that they do those things they ought not to do but know his Will and do it and are blessed in their deed And again in that which they call the Lord's Prayer they generally say Our Father Now the Children of God are not miserable sinners nor do not those things they ought not to do for whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin and whosoever sinneth hath not seen him neither known him and there are not any that believe in God or can call God Father in truth but those that are born of him for those that are born of flesh and of blood and of the will of man they do not believe in God neither can truly call God Father for that is the nature in which sin is committed which makes people miserable and that is the nature in which they do those things they ought not to do and that is the nature in which there is no saving health and there is not any prayer accepted of God which in that nature is performed for none in the flesh can please God and whatsoever is offered unto him in that nature he doth not regard it for it is the nature from which all wickedness proceedeth and the prayers of the wicked are an abomination unto God and though there may be many which may deny the Common way of Prayer as it is used in the Common Worship and set up some other way of Prayer as more excellent yet whilst the flesh and blood and will of man conceives it and performs it there is no difference in the ground between that which they deny and that which they set up and practise neither doth God regard it any more than that which they deny and though such Prayers may not appear so formal as those that are commonly used in the Common Worship yet they are conceived in the very same womb and do not at all differ in the ground for as the wisdom of the flesh hath composed so many set-prayers in words and hath prescribed a way to observe and practise the same and that none is either to add or diminish as to what is so composed even so the same wisdom may deny that prescribed way as being formal and may invent something instead of it in a higher mystery of iniquity and though they may not speak in such formal composed words yet in the same wisdom their words are formal not at all differing in the ground or conception but onely in the expression and observation and in their practice it is as formal as that which they