Selected quad for the lemma: prayer_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
prayer_n	cast_v	devil_n	fast_v	3,166	5	10.2336	5	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A41631	An essay of the true happines of man in two books / by Samuel Gott ...	Gott, Samuel, 1613-1671.	1650 (1650)	Wing G1354; ESTC R6768	89,685	312

Vain and Fanatike Though some of them were meer Impostors yet others verily believed that they were divinely inspired The Miracles of Saints and Martyrs since the Apostolicall times seem rather Legends and Fables then credible Stories The confident perswasions of a strong Faith may seem somewhat like a Prophecy though far different from it and of another kind and so the Judgements of some wise men have been taken for Predictions whereas Prophecy is not so much the confirmation of a mans own Spirit in the ordinary way of believing or judging as an extraordinary revelation of Future things immediately and expresly by God perhaps in a rapture or extasy when he who uttereth it least understandeth it Also there may be a power of casting out Divels by Praier and Fasting which is not now to be performed as formerly by any speciall Gift with a word of command certainly effecting it but in the ordinary way of Praier which God is pleased to honor with an equall effect There are also Miracles of Providence as we may so call them whereby God is pleased to deliver his Church out of her greatest streights in an extraordinary manner and by unexpected means as he did formerly by Signs and Wonders and Miracles of Nature Such was the recovery of Germany by the same hand which first betraied the Protestant Cause Maurice Duke of Saxony after all his Successes and Preferment strangely revolting from Charles the fifth to the contrary party the defeating of the Spanish Aramado as Drake termed it with Squibs the discovery of the Gunpowder Treason by a Letter or whatsoever other Indicium there was of it yea the preservation of Christian Religion in all Ages maugre all Persecutions and Heresies and the restoring of it in these latter dayes without a Miracle is none of the least Miracles Certainly the clear revelation of the Mysteries of Faith and the manifestation of the Graces of Gods Spirit in the Harts and Lives of men are evident testimonies that God hath not forsaken his Church the least dram of true Grace being more valuable then all Miraculous Gifts whatsoever and the principall end thereof As for Enthusiasms and Revelations they were of use in former times and very necessary before Scripture was finished being either Scripture or instead of Scripture but since St. Iohns time who wrote the last Book of Scripture in the Isle of Pathmos under Domitian they seem also to have ceased for if this were true they ought to be believed equally with Scripture being the immediate and infallible Word of God as well as it which is now the only rule and measure of Faith sufficient to make the man of God perfect But all those Fansies are not so dangerous as other Spirituall Errors in the Foundation and Essentials of Faith to which such Spirits are very prone striving to ascend above Truth asmuch as others fall short of it Thus by exalting the free Grace and Spirit of God they destroy the Morall Law and with the Penalty take away the Precept or Commanding power though the Law be as obligatory in it self and prevalent over the Conscience of a Good man without it as with it and most perfectly consistent with Grace which enableth us to perform what the Law commandeth Others trample on the very Ordinances and Duties of the Gospel presuming to finde a neerer way to Heaven then God hath appointed There are new fashions and dresses of Religion very pleasing and popular as all Novelties are especially such as seem more sublime and Spirituall But the old Orthodox Truth is the best and still prevaileth at last There is no Doctrine in the world which hath been so curiously scanned and throughly sifted in every Point and Puntilio thereof as Christianity the greatest Scepticisms and most subtile Criticisms and niceties of Wit have been exercised about it and the whole Body thereof like the Body of our Savior hanging upon the Cross vexed and tortured in every joint and yet it continues whole and entire though there may be some prints of the Nails and Spears of Heretikes remaining upon it yet not a bone thereof may be broken which plainly proves it to be Spirituall Divine preserved only by the Author of it Paracelsus threatned that he would deal with the Pope Luther as he had done with Galen and Aristotle and probably if he had undertaken it we should have had some such Mercuriall Theology from him as is now vented in our times The difference seems not much unlike Sound Divines like Galenists administer solid and substantiall Truth whereas our Paracelsian Preachers deal in Quintessences and Spirits and the like Chymistry of Divinity and cloth them with strange words and Mysticall expressions Divinity hath found the same usage in these times with all other Arts and Sciences and the same Humor of this fantastike Age runs through all Men think to advance Learning by fine Conceits and strong Lines as they call them which have enervated the solid part thereof so do these emasculate Religion by their vain Opinions and quaint Expressions There is no greater Bane of true Piety then Error on the right hand and sublime Heresy especially when it grows Popular and is generally received Yet Truth is no less Truth though all the World should be in an Error One Athanasius may stand to his Creed in the midst of an Arrian Empire As a man who sees the Sun shine though all others should say the contrary is no whit less assured of it because he sees it Indeed we can hardly guess at things which are before us how much less can we find out Spirituall and Divine Truth or practice what we know Let us therefore pray to God for his Spirit who first reveled it to the world and who only can lead us into all Truth and into all Grace which is our true Happiness VII Of a Christian Life THe great work of the Spirit of God in our Harts is the new Creature and the effect thereof new Life Christian Life is the Enjoiment of all things for enjoying Christ who is Heir of all things and hath purchased all with his bloud we enjoy all things by a new and better Title and in a more excellent and Spirituall manner as the Fruits of his Redemption and Gifts of his Love It is generally affimed by Divines that true Grace chiefly respects Gods Glory and our own Happiness in a subsequent and inferior manner so that we should be willing to suffer even the pains of Hell it self for the Glory of God which is a fine Notion and an high Expression but if rightly considered we shall find no such distinction in the Thing it self Indeed if we take Happiness for a releaf from Pains or a Paradise of Pleasure or any other thing then the very enjoiment of God and Christ it is a true Sentence but the highest Happiness of the Soul being that very enjoiment the one cannot be separated nor really distinguished from the other He who