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
A47432	An answer to the considerations which obliged Peter Manby, late Dean of London-Derry in Ireland, as he pretends, to embrace what he calls, the Catholick religion by William King ...	King, William, 1650-1729.	1687 (1687)	Wing K523; ESTC R966	76,003	113

to the Disciples of Simon Magus who taught as St. Irenoeus informs us that such as were perfect among them and had that Principle they called S●lt and Light could not ●in Not but that they were guilty of the greatest villanies but they reckoned nothing in themselves sin because they walked in Light and Truth while the rest of the world were in Darkness as they pretended In opposition to these St. John shews us v. 8. that if we pretend thus to be without sin we deceive our selves and the truth is not in us but if we own and acknowledge our sins and heartily endeavour to avoid them then the Blood of Christ cleanses us from all sin according to Gods promise who gave his only begotten Son that whosoever believes in him might not perish It is plain from vers 10. that such as refused to confess their sins according to St. John made God a lyar Now this is litterally true of those who deny that they are sinners as those Hereticks did but to deny the necessity of a particular enumeration of sins to a Priest doth no ways impeach Gods truth and therefore the Confession required by these words if we confess our sins is not Auricular This is farther manifest from the ancient Fathers of the Church not one of which understand these words of Confession to a Priest. St. Augustine has written a Comment on this Epistle and he thus explains this place If thou confess that thou art a sinner the truth is in thee Tell men what thou art tell God what thou art If thou tell not God what thou art God will damn what he finds in thee If thou wouldst not that he should damn condemn thou Occumenius refers this whole passage to the Jews If we who said his Blood be on us and on our Children should impudently say that we have not sinned we deceive our selves but if we acknowledge and confess this sin he will forgive us Which sufficiently shews that by confessing our sins here is meant the acknowledging our selves to be sinners in opposition to those who plead innocency And that this has no relation to a particular Confession of Sins to a Priest. Sect. 5. But 2. When God is said to be Faithful and Just it doth not particularly respect that Promise John 20. 23. Whose Sins you remit they are remitted which is sufficiently proved from this Argument that no ancient interpreter has thus applyed them but on the contrary have referred them to other Promises Thus St. Cyprian refers them to that Petition in the Lords Prayer Forgive us our Trespasses and interprets Confessing in St. John by this Petition in the Prayer to which he saith Forgiveness is promised St. John therefore saith that God who keeps his Promise is faithful to forgive Sins because he who hath taught us to pray for our sins hath promised that his Fatherly Mercy and Pardon shall follow The Roman Gloss saith God is faithful who promised Grace to the humble Oecumenius refers this to Isaiah 43. 26. Where according to the Septuagint Translation the words are tell thy sins first that thou mayest be justified Which is ushered in with that promise v. 25. I even I am he that blotteth out thy Transgressions for mine own sake and will not remember thy sins Lyra saith God is faithful to forgive us our Sins because he promised so Mat. 3. 2. Repent ye for the Kingdom of God is at hand You see that the ancient Interpreters could find other Promises both in the Old and New Testament which obliged God to forgive Sins before Auricular Confession is pretended to be instituted and not one of them dreamed that St. John had relation to that promise beside which Mr M. affirms there is not another in the New Testament How will he reconcile this to his profession of Faith in which he promises never to interpret Scripture but according to the unanimous consent of the Fathers When there is not one Father to vouch his sence of this place and several against him § 6. But 3. Suppose that consequence followed from this place which he infers that God will not remit Sins under the new Testament without the Ministry of his Priests Yet it would not follow that Auricular Confession is necessary because under the old Law the Sins of the People were not pardoned without the Ministry of Gods Priests and yet it is confessed that Auricular Confession was not then instituted Besides if the Ministry of the Priest be necessary why should that be understood rather of their private than publick Ministry And lastly their Ministry may be necessary on other accounts than hearing Confessions and pronouncing Absolutions Thus Oecumenius makes the Forgiveness of Sins here promised to be that Remission which is obtained in Baptism Therefore saith he God doth certainly remit Sins to them that come to his holy Baptism St. Chrysostome who wrote his Books De Sacerdotio purposely to magnisie the Priests Office interprets the promise in St. John 20. 23. by the power of admitting to Baptism and the Lords Supper together with the Priests Intercession and Prayers for Sinners but he says not one word of their remitting by an Absolution or Judicial Sentence Who soever knows St. Chrisostom must own that if he had known or believed such a magnificent power in the Priests he wou'd never have omitted it in Books written designedly to magnifie their Office I conclude therefore that although the Ministry of the Priests under the Gospel is necessary to the pardon of the Peoples Sins Yet that Ministry may consist in the use of their Directions Prayers Intercession and Sacraments and I believe Mr. M. will hardly be able to shew any other way of Absolution used by the ancient Church Nay St Cyprian denies that Priests properly forgive Sins because all that they can do is to put men in a way to be forgiven Sect. 7. The second thing Mr. M. intends for an Argument in favour of Confession is what he alledges p. 7. that Confession is approved and frequented by all the Christian World except the People of our Islands and some few others that call themselves reformed and further p. 8. that it was never heard of in the Catholick Church that Christians may receive the communion of Christs Body and Blood without a previous confession and Absolution Which if true proves this Doctrine to be Catholick both as to time and place but the best of it is that we are not bound to take his word And that upon Examination this will be found false in both the parts of it For neither do all other Christians beside the Reformed frequent and approve Auricular Confession otherwise than our Church doth Nor is it any new thing in the Catholick Church for Men to come to the Communion without private Confession and Absolution by a Priest. The whole Greek Church denies Auricular Confession to be of divine Right pretending it only to be a

conclude p. 10. in a word p. 11. in sine next paragraph on the whole matter p. 12. after all his concluding he must have a word or two before he make an end p. 13. he promises to say no more and yet he cannot forbear adding two or three things nothing to the purpose Thus he says and unsays and labours in a heap of confusion And when all is done he puts things in a less advantageous Light than has been done by many of his Brethren before him I shall bring what he says such as it is into this method 1st I will consider what he says in order to vindicate or recommend his new Church And 2ly Wherein he criminates ours § 2. He endeavours to vindicate his new Church in her Devotions as to the Direction of them as to their being in an unknown Tongue and as to their being made before Images He endeavours to recommend her from the excellency of her Prayers and from the Devotion and Unity of her People As to the direction of her Prayers he tells us That instead of Idolatry he found most elevated and judicious Prayers to the Holy Trinity concluding in the Name of our Saviour Jesus Christ p. 9. and he asks Do Roman Catholicks ever say Mass to any other object but the living Father Son and Holy Ghost p. 12. Now if all the Prayers in the Mass be so very elevated and judicious and all said to the Trinity only then God forgive the wickedness of those People who quarrel at this and persecute it with so blind and furious Aversion But soft and fair Mr. M. consider they are Hereticks you pray for and ten to one either do not deserve or do not need your Charity For suppose the Prayers in the Mass were never so judicious and never so well directed yet for ought the People know or any assurance they have besides the honesty of the Priest the Prayers may be Conjuring or Cursing directed to Jupiter or Mahomet and therefore 't is your own Fault that people persecute them with so blind and furious Aversion since you keep the people in that blindness and will not let them understand their Prayers that they may admire their Judiciousness § 3. But 2ly It is to be considered that the Mass was patched up in a barbarous and ignorant Age though many of the Materials are old and the composition is such that all even of the Roman Communion are not satisfied concerning the Judiciousness of the Prayers in it In so much that Cassander who was a little better acquainted with it then Mr. M. confesses the phrase is obscure even to Learned Men that the Canon is difficult and that sometimes there is a sudden jump from one sence of a word to another Cassander was no perverse ill-natured Phanatick but a learned and ingenuous Roman Catholick and yet he finds fault with this Prayer Mr. M. has produc'd and others of the like importance in the Mass because they are improperly used as Masses are now celebrated for these Prayers have respect as he tells us to an ancient custom in the Church now gone out of use and agree chiefly to a Solemn Mass in which there is supposed to be a Communion and Congregation of the people that have offered Bread and Wine This Bread and Wine offered by the People is that immaculate Sacrifice offered up by the Priest in the Prayer mentioned by Mr. M. And where neither People are present nor any Offering is made by them this Prayer and several others in the Mass make a hard shift to gain the Estimation of either Sence or Truth much less of Judiciousness And has given occasion to some to abuse the Mass to Superstition and to others to condemn it as Impious How can a Priest with either Judgment or Truth offer a Sacrifice for all present as the Prayers direct him to do even in a solitary Mass when none is present or near him But 3ly As all the Prayers in the Mass are not judiciously contrived so neither are they all said to the Trinity the very Sacrifice being offered up for the Honour of Saints and Angels and to obtain of them their Intercession besides several Prayers made to them for the same purpose directly contrary to what we learn from Saint Augustine to have been the Practice of the ancient Church § 4. Mr. M. seems aware of this Objection and hints at three Answers to it 1st That Presbyterians object as much against that Canticle in the Common-Prayer-Book called Benidecite 2dly That the Roman Catholick ascribe nothing to Angels or Saints but as the Ministers of God And 3dly That the Angels must know our affairs and the Saints have intelligence from them and therefore we pray to them 1. He assures us That the Reader shall find Protestants objecting nothing against Consessing and Praying to Saints and Angels but what Presbyterians do against that Canticle in the Common-Prayer-Book called Benedicite omnia opera O Ananias Azarias and Misael praise ye the Lord is as rank Popery with Presbyterians as any thing in the Mass or Litanies of our Lady p. 9. Now except he be able to shew where the Presbyterians have declared this as their sence we can count him no better than a Slanderer For my part I do prosess that I never yet met with one single Presbyterian so silly as to make this Apostrophe for an Invocation of dead Men who do not hear us The disparity of the case is so manifest between our Church and the Roman that it is hardly possible any should mistake The Roman Church has determined that it is good and prositable humbly to invocate the Saints and to flee to their Prayers Help and Assistance Our Church has declared Invocation of Saints to be a fond thing vainly invented To parallel therefore the Presbyterian Objection if any such there be against us with ours against the Papists on this Head is to shift off an Objection which did not easily admit of an Answer § 5. Let us see if this second Answer be any better which is that the Roman Catholicks attribute nothing to Angels or Saints but as the Ministers and Favourites of the Living God receiving from him whatever understanding they have of our affairs p. 12. But what then May not Men ascribe more to Favourites than the King allows them and is not that an encroachment on his Prerogative If Mr. M. will shew us where God allows us to make Prayers to Saints to erect Images for their Worship burn Incense before them dedicate Churches to their Honour make Vows to them or devote Orders and Societies of Men as slaves to their Service he will indeed vindicate his Church against the Reformation for in possession of all these the first Reformers found them and justly concluded it safest to lay them aside as too much to be allowed Favourites out of our own head without the express Declaration of the Princes Will. But if he cannot