Selected quad for the lemma: prayer_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
prayer_n	forgive_v	lord_n	trespass_n	3,485	5	11.3824	5	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A40812	A vindication of liturgies shewing the lawfulness, usefulness, and antiquity, of performing the publick worship of God by set forms of prayer, wherein several other things also of considerable use are occasionally discussed : in answer to a late book intitules, A reasonable account why some pious non-conforming ministers in England judge it sinful for them to perform their ministerial acts in publick solemn prayer by the prescribed forms of others / by William Falkner.	Falkner, William, d. 1682.	1680 (1680)	Wing F336; ESTC R24032	135,488	300

the Benediction of Eli the High Priest to Hannah and Elkanah 1 Sam. 1.17 Ch. 2.20 28. He goes on to tell us that they g p. 57. do not think that ever our Saviour intended the Lords Prayer to be used syllabically And h De Casib Consc l. 4. c. 17. qu. 5. Amesius also declares that our Lord did not intend to prescribe a Form of words to be constantly observed in the Lords Prayer Now it may well seem strange that any persons should harbour such an opinion as this if they had not some interest which enclined them to have such apprehensions concerning the Lords Prayer But as our late Gracious Soveraign observed i 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. 16. its great guilt is that it is the warrant and Original Pattern of all set Liturgies in the Christian Church And I cannot but wonder that k Grot. in Mat. 6.9 in Luc. 11.1 Grotius should entertain this extravagant and unreasonable conceit 29. But that our Saviour delivered this Prayer as a Form to be of ordinary use I gave manifest evidence l Libert Eccles p. 100 101 102. from the expressions of his precept from the occasion of his delivering it from the manner of its composure and from clear testimonies concerning the usual practice of the Primitive Church in the first second and third Centuries in observing it as a Form And our Author thought not fit to answer any thing to these proofs The Lords Prayer was directed to be a Form nor indeed to take any notice of them unto which I shall refer the Reader But this novel and groundless notion is also greatly opposite to the sense of the ancient Church in the following Centuries and would have been then earnestly exploded since they looked upon the Apostles themselves and all other Christians to have been enjoined by divine Precept to make use of this Prayer as a Form S. Hierome declared m Hieron adv Pelag. l. 3. c. 5. Docuit Apostolos suos ut quotidie in corporis illius sacrificio credentes audeant loqui Pater noster c. He taught his Apostles that every day believing in the sacrifice of his body they should say Our Father which art in Heaven c. And n Aug. Epist 89. S. Austin saith Omnibus necessaria est Oratio Dominica quam ipsis arietibus gregis i. e. ipsis Apostolis suis Dominus dedit ut unusquisque Deo dicat Dimitte nobis debita nostra c. The Lords Prayer is necessary for all which the Lord gave to the chief of his flock that is to the very Apostles themselves that every one should say to God Forgive us our trespasses c. 30. Among the Protestants as their Writers do generally acknowledge it to be a prescribed Form so Apollonius and the Classis of o Consid contr Ang. p. 177 178. Walachria observed In omnibus Reformatarum Ecclesiarum Liturgiis c. In all the publick Liturgies which are extant of the Reformed Churches the Lords Prayer is prescribed to be used But our Authors Assertion not only contradicts the sense of the ancient Catholick Church and the generality of Protestants abroad but he herein clasheth as well with the Directory and with that Assembly at Westminster which rejected our Common Prayer as with the Church of England In the p Direct Of Prayer after Serm. Directory they said The Prayer which Christ taught his Disciples is not only a pattern of Prayer but it self a most comprehensive Prayer and we recommend it to be used in the Prayers of the Church And the members of that Assembly in their Annotations affirm that q Assembl Annot. on Luk. 11.2 It is the most exact and sacred Form of Prayer indited and taught the Disciples who were to teach the whole World the rules and practice of true Religion by Christ himself who is best able to teach his servants to pray And again Christ prescribed this Form of Prayer to be used by them 31. Now it is an unreasonable confidence and presumption to oppose and contradict the general sense of the Christian Church in all Ages and even the truly Primitive and Reformed Churches if it be not upon great evidence Wherefore I shall now examine what this Writer hath to say for his opinion He saith r Reas Acc. p. 57. If the Apostles had apprehended it left for a Form of words and syllables we should have found some after record of the use of it But if he mean there would be some record of this in the Scriptures and writings of the Apostles this is very vain since it is certain they do not contain such Prayers as were used in the publick Assemblies and it is as unreasonable to expect this in them as to expect that all Books of instruction written by any of our Church should repeat our Publick Liturgy and it is very usual for such Books to have other expressions of Prayer and Supplication than those of our Common-Prayer And if this objection were of any weight it would as much prove that our Saviour never intended that Christian Baptism should be administred in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost as that the Lords Prayer should not be used though he plainly commanded both 32. But if by record The Lords Prayer used as a Form in the Primitive Church he means evidence beyond all exception from authentick ancient Writers concerning the practice of the Primitive Church though the producing such evidence is not necessary to make the Precepts of our Saviour valid I have sufficiently manifested so much in the place lately referred unto but if he took no notice thereof I cannot help that And besides what I mentioned above n. 29. S. Aug. assures us ſ Hom. 42. inter 50. Ad altare Dei quotidie dicitur Oratio Dominica The Lords Prayer is daily said at Gods Altar And in another place speaking of the Communion Service he saith that the Prayers thereof t Ep. 59. ad Paul Qu. 5. fere omnis Ecclesia Dominica Oratione concludit almost every Church doth conclude with the Lords Prayer And the use of it after the receiving the Sacrament was also observed by u De Sacr. l. 5. c. 4. S. Ambrose 33. But our Author saith 2. If Christ intended it for a Form x Ibid. p. 57. all that can be concluded is that Christ may appoint a Liturgy for his Church which surely none denies But it will also follow that Forms of Prayer are not to be rejected and condemned but ought to be esteemed of profitable use It gives an approbation to other publick Forms For since such Forms were of use among the Jews in our Saviours time as I have observed and shall more particularly manifest in the end of the next Section our Lord was so far from reproving this practice or John the Baptist his conforming to the like that himself taught his own

Disciples a Form also as the Baptist had taught his Wherefore this manifestly declares an approbation of Forms of Prayer taught and directed by others who have the chief authority in the Church 34. The last thing he urgeth is y p. 57 58. that supposing that Christ intended this as a Form at that time whether it was to last beyond his Resurrection and the descent of the Holy Ghost is a farther Question And though he doth not positively assert this yet he would have his Reader to be of this opinion and offers in proof of it what he saith was well observed which I shall by and by consider The Precepts of Christ which all ancient Churches reverenced may not now be laid aside But first Is it not a strange boldness and irreverence towards any Precept or Institution of our Saviour for him to suggest to men that it is expired and antiquated when our Lord himself gave no intimation of its being temporary and the Vniversal Church hath understood it otherwise Is not this a new piece of Pharisaism in teaching men how to make void the Commandments of God by looking upon them as out of date This Author may by these means do some service for them who contend that the Sacrament of Baptism was only intended for the first admission of Nations into the Christian Church so far as the reputation of his bare authority will go Yea and for those also who look upon the Lords Supper the Ordination of Ministers and many other Christian duties not to be needful for the succeeding Ages after the Apostles 35. The Apostles had extraordinary assistances and abilities before the Resurrection of Christ Secondly His supposing Forms might be requisite for the Apostles before Christ Resurrection and the coming of the Holy Ghost but that no such low things are since that time fit to be continued doth too plainly manifest that some persons are strangely big with swelling conceits of themselves Dare our Author speak out the plain sense of this suggestion which is this That himself and other dissenters are men of far greater abilities than the Apostles of our Saviour were before his Resurrection though they were then called to be his Apostles were sent forth to preach his Gospel and were enabled to work miracles and cast out Devils and consequently that these men now may reasonably look upon such directions and precepts to be of too low and inferiour a nature for them to observe which yet were enjoined upon and were fit for the state of the Apostles before the Resurrection 36. Thirdly his pretence of proof for this opinion is very shallow which is z p. 58. that Christ left out his own name in the Lords Prayer Of praying in the name of Christ but in that name his Disciples were afterwards enjoined to ask Joh. 14.13 14. Joh. 16.23 But to ask in his name is to ask through his mediation upon the encouragement of his merits and his being our intercessor and advocate at Gods right hand in our nature which is a priviledge peculiar to the time since the ascension of our Lord and also to ask sutably to the rules and doctrine of Christianity This is the sense which is generally given of this expression of asking in the name of Christ and even the Assemblies Annotations declare asking in the name of Christ to be a Assembl Annot. on Joh. 14.14 Ch. 16.24 26. through his mediation and they also add from S. Gregory si id quod non expedit petitur non in nomine Jesu petitur pater if that be desired which should not be God is not asked in the name of Jesus And this sense of this phrase In his name that it signifies upon his account and though him is evident from Joh. 1.12 Joh. 20.31 and many other places But the Apostles under the guidance of Gods Spirit did not always verbally express the name Jesus in all their Prayers as Rom. 15.13 2 Thes 3.16 and elsewhere 37. Now in the Lords Prayer we know that what we ask is according to the will of our Lord being directed by him We call not God Our Father but upon the account of Christ and upon his account we desire all our Petitions in the Lords Prayer to be granted And our desiring that Gods name may be hallowed that his Kingdom should come and that our trespasses may be forgiven c. have particular respect to our Mediator And in this whole Prayer we according to the direction of our Church-Catechism trust that God of his mercy and goodness 〈◊〉 do what we ask through our Lord Jesu● Christ and therefore we say Amen And this is also the general sense of all b Formula à Resormatis usurpata ante illius Orationis recitationem Haec alia quae nosti Domine nobis esse necessaria à te postulamus in nomine Christi ea Orationis formula quam ipse nos docuit Pater noster c. Thes Salm. Par. 3. loc Com. 47. n. 13. sober Protestants 38. My second Argument to prove Forms of Prayer to be no disadvantage to devotion was c Libert Eccles p. 122 123. because it is generally acknowledged that the singing Psalms of Prayer and praise may be advantageously performed in a set Form of words and the Scriptures are not the less edifying because they are contained in a set form of words But concerning singing Psalms this Writer saith d p. 59. this is a mistake of the Question and e p. 60. that these are such Forms as God hath Canonized And he tells us he is against singing by any Forms not made of God which he calls f p. 18 19. p. 60.78 Apocryphal Anthems as much as he is against Liturgical Forms of Prayer And yet he allows g p. 78. p. 60. singing the Psalms in Meter though the words be not dictated of God My second Argument was that the Psalms in a set Form of words are useful to devotion and so are the Scriptures because the sense and matter in the Psalms in Meter is so directed 39. But when he saith this Argument mistakes the Question the Reader will easily see it was proper enough for the Question or Case of which I was discoursing which was in general whether Forms of Prayer are disadvantageous to Piety But our Author that he might avoid the force of this and some other Arguments hath put the Question into another method but hath not done it solidly nor hath he avoided the force of this Argument thereby For first when he grants concerning the Psalms of Prayer and praise that God hath Canonized those Forms he here asserteth what in Answer to the former Argument he would not own viz. that God ever appointed or prescribed any Forms of Prayer And as the matter of many of the Psalms is Prayer So S. Hierome observes there are h Hieron Epist 139. Comment in Ps 189. four Psalms which bear

of a good form And I desire that this thing may be seriously and carefully considered it being of concernment to the real profit and good of men however it may be slighted by some conceited and self-pleasing Persons To this purpose Cappellus declared his dislike of them who (t) Thes Salmur de Liturg n. 30. certas orandi formulas etiam in privatis familijs damnant condemn fixed forms of Prayer even in private Families And what Melancthon speaks in approbation of forms in private as well as in publick I have (u) Ch. 3. Sect. 3. n. ult above noted 11. But because many private cases which may be of great concernment to particular persons and Families may be more properly taken into the subject of Family Devotions than of publick Assemblies it is expedient and ordinarily necessary that such things also be upon emergent occasions presented to God for obtaining his help and blessing in as suitable words as the person is able to express and without affecting variety of words And in the Closet many things concerning the persons own particular case and wnats which cannot be comprised in a form are needful matters of his private and retired Devotion which may either be by vocal expressions or only by the inward lively motions of a contrite spirit as the person himself finds most expedient Wherefore Dr. Hammond declared (w) ubi sup That it is supposed by the Church that in the Family and Closet every man may ask his own wants in what form of words he shall think fit and what he said and the liberty therein expressed was observed as an instance of the moderation of our Church by my worthy friend (x) Moderat of the Chur. Ch. 7. §. 6. Dr. Puller And I acknowledg That if any Superior should forbid all such private Confessions and Petitions this being against the duty of a Creature and a Christian ought not to be submitted to But blessed be God our Governors are far enough from any such thing nor ought our Author to propose it 12. Wherefore the result of this matter is this That the performing the publick offices of the Church by a set-form is that which is really profitable to Christianity and the appointing them to be so performed ought not to be looked on as meer act of Power and Dominion in our Superiors which is designed no farther than to try the Subjects obedience but in this case it is a pious act of their Christian care and prudence If all Ministers should perform these Offices without prescribed Forms how many inconveniencies Constant use of Liturgies is advantageous and what impediments to piety must constantly in some things and might frequently in others thence ensue is easie to be considered and in many things hath been and in part will (y) Ch. 9. farther be expressed in this Book the celebrating these Offices by some with a Form and by others without one would be an engine of Discord and Faction and men of high conceit and rash confidence who are most apt to miscarry would be most impatient of that restraint from which others are free And if any one person under a wel-constituted order use his own different way of celebrating Divine Offices being member of that and not of any foreign Church even this would be against the peace of the Church and so not to be desired of any good man And this man also whoever he be unless he keep himself to the same seriously premeditated things will not perform these with that exactness that is in a Form and may be sometimes liable to defects of memory or expression And Forms of Prayer are also of excellent and singular use in Families and in Closets 13. Yet we account other Prayers besides Forms in their place (z) Dr. Hammon Pract. Catech. of Prayer allowable God forbid that any should speak against the general matter and design of such a Work as St. Austins Confessions or the pious Meditations and Soliloquies Other Prayers in their place useful of many ancient and modern devout men And we esteem it so useful an exercise of Religion for Christians frequently to set themselves to take a strict account of themselves and penitently to confess their particular neglects and trespasses and to implore the needful mercies and blessings of God that none need to fear that any Christian Governor will ever prohibit such things And whereas by a constant strict course of Piety some persons have arrived in a tranquillity of mind to an higher degree of Mortification Of the highest and most raised Devotions and holy sublime affections to and sense of God and his Goodness than the generality even of other pious Christians it is fit that in their private Devotions they express as they think most expedient the noble grave and sober sentiments of their Souls in acts of Adoration But such things are unfit for publick conventions being too high for the common state of men who can more easily admire them than joyn in them And all En. husiastical pretences and the methods of speaking mystical non-sense deserve no where either commendation or any allowance 14. And I humbly beseech Almighty God in the name of his only Son who founded his Church in Vnity that all men who have any love of God or goodness may at length learn to study and to do and speak those things which tend to peace in the Church and not to make breaches therein and to divide it And that we may all more thankfully acknowledg the signal mercy of God to us That we have the priviledg of having been educated in so excellent a part of the Christian Church as our Church is And God grant that this Discourse may have some influence towards these ends 15. But it would be diligently considered No peace and order where every person or party will undertake to new-model the Church That no Church can enjoy Peace but that whose members keep their own station and the governing and ordering part is left to the Governors and Superiors to be determined by them others yielding due submission in things lawful But if every man or every several club or distinction and party of men may claim to themselves a power of new-modelling the state of the Church this not only tends to confusions but speaks them to intrude themselves into the office of the Supreme Governor Ch. VI. and that they may overlook and overturn all the foundation and fabrick of a well ordered Church CHAP. VI. Of Preaching and whether it be as reasonable to preach in a Form of Words composed by others as to pray in a prescribed Form HIS fifth Argument is (a) Reas Acc. p. 98 100. that if Ministers may obey Men in performing their Ministerial Acts of solemn Prayer by the prescribed Forms of others upon the same principle may all Ministerial Gifts in preaching be suppressed and Ministers may be appointed to read some Discourses of others to