Selected quad for the lemma: prayer_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
prayer_n	lord_n	pray_v	supplication_n	2,811	5	10.3362	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A45640	The divine physician, prescribing rules for the prevention, and cure of most diseases, as well of the body, as the soul demonstrating by natural reason, and also divine and humane testimony, that, as vicious and irregular actions and affections prove often occasions of most bodily diseases, and shortness of life, so the contrary do conduce to the preservation of health, and prolongation of life : in two parts / by J.H ...	Harris, John, 1667?-1719.	1676 (1676)	Wing H848; ESTC R20051	75,699	228

Lord omnipotent There is a time saith he when in their hands i. e. the Physicians there is good success For they shall also pray unto the Lord that he would prosper that which they give for ease and remedy to prolong life Ibidem v. 13 14. This excellent issue of devout Prayer is further declared in these following Instances Hezekiah being arrested by a violent and dangerous distemper for some arrears due to the great Landlord of Heaven and Earth was further afflicted by a sad message of being turn'd out of the tenement of his Body by death But by his humble supplication and mournful prayer unto his merciful Lord he had a Lease of his life granted him for 15. years subscribed with a promise according to God's own order and sealed with a miracle to confirm it further upon the dial of Ahaz as you may see more fully by a recourse to the sacred Text 2 Kings 20. 1 c. I have read that on a time there was a meeting appointed at Haganaw upon the Rhine where the Reformed Divines were to meet and in a friendly manner to debate differences But as Melancthon was going thitherward he fell sick at Vinaria Luther and Cruciger hearing of it by long journeys hasted to him and as soon as Luther saw how miserably he was wasted with his Disease with sighs and tears he brake out into this speech Alas how precious and profitable an instrument of the Church is miserably weakened and ready to perish And therewithal falling upon his knees he prayed most earnestly for his recovery And afterwards Melancthon confessed that if Luther had not come he had died Clark's Lives of the Fathers p. 247. Yea it is written of this Luther that by his prayers he could prevail with God at his pleasure Praying for the recovery of Myconius he let fall this transcendent rapture of daring Faith Fiat voluntas mea Let my will be done And then comes off sweetly Mea voluntas Domine quia tua My will Lord because thy will Beatus est qui habet quicquid vult nihil male vult Blessed is he that hath what he will and wills nothing but what he should Also I find recorded that the Lady Ann Henage lying sick of a violent feaver which her Physicians deemed to be mortal Mr. Fox was sent for to be present at her ending and when by instructions and prayer he had prepared her for death he told her that she had done well in thus fitting her self for her dissolution yet that she should not die of that sickness A Knight her Son-in-law being by told him in private that he had not done well in thus discomposing her mind with hopes of life To whom Mr. Fox answered That he said no more then what was commanded him for it seemed good to God that she should recover Which also came to pass as an effect of fervent prayer which prevailed when Natural means failed Idem 794. King Edward the Sixth as he was constant and fervent in his private prayer so was he as successful therein witness this Example Sir John Cheek his Schoolmaster fell desperately sick of whose condition the King carefully enquired every day At last his Physicians told him that there was no hope of his life and that he was given over by them for a dead Man Nay said the King he will not die at this time for this morning I begged his life of God in my prayers and obtained it Which accordingly came to pass and soon after Sir John beyond all expectation wonderfully recovered Ful. History of the Church p. 424. It is said of St. Augustin in a Relation of his life that he was alwayes powerful in prayer so that sometimes thereby he cast out devils and sometimes restored sick Men to their health It would perhaps be tedious to the Reader to annumerate any further instances to this purpose as by demonstrating what a wonderful decrease there hath been sometimes observed in the weekly Bills of mortality in several Places of this Kingdom graciously succeeding upon the humble and devout prayers of God's People And therefore I shall content my self to insist only upon St. James his Canon Is any sick among you let him call for the Elders of the Church and let them pray over him annointing him with oil in the Name of the Lord And the prayer of faith shall save the sick and the Lord shall raise him up and if he hath committed sins they shall be forgiven him James 5. 14 15. By the Elders of the Church we may understand the Pastors or Ministers of the Church who are to be sent for by the sick that they may pray for him and with him And their faithful prayer shall be a means ordinarily to save that sick Person from the danger of his Disease and whereas sins are the cause of his sickness even those sins of his shall upon humble and devout prayers be done away and forgiven Now as concerning the Ceremony of anointing the sick Body with Oyl in the Name of the Lord this was an extraordinary thing communicated to those which had gifts of Miracles used by them as an outward Symbole and sign of the Spiritual healing and so we deny not but it was an extraordinary temporary Sacrament but now that Miracles are ceased in the Church still to retain the outward sign is a vain supertitious imitation although St. James his Oil and the Popish Ointment do much differ See Fulke on the Rhem. Test. Again this usage as a bare Ceremony was not instituted by Christ or any way commanded to be continued by the Apostles or their Successors in the Church even while the gifts of Healing did continue amongst them but was by the Apostles themselves very frequently omitted in their working of Cures as the learned Dr. Hammond hath observed in his Annotations Prayer then you see was the more yea the only effectual and substantial performance or means in the Cure and the Ceremony of annointing may now reasonably be omitted Obj. But against the use of prayer some may object the words of Job Job 7. 1. Is there not an appointed time to man upon earth are not his dayes also like the dayes of an hireling What need then of prayer when every Man's time upon Earth like the Sea is bounded so as hitherto shall it come but no further I answer only hereunto at present that this may be a general Objection against the use of all other means as well as Prayer in relation to the cure of Diseases and prolongation of life and therefore shall be answered in its proper place designed A 2d Object Against some lukewarm Christians may object further and say I have often prayed upon the account of health for my self and others in time of sickness but all my prayers have like Arrows shot up to Heaven returned upon my own head without doing their errand Solut. To this I answer Our prayers many times come short of Heaven because

But I shall now proceed to something more proper and adaequate unto the present purpose and that is to lay down a Plat-form of the succeeding Argument In the next Chapter I shall demonstrate in general and particular that vertuous and regular actions and affections are in a super-natural sense conducing to the preservation of health and prolongation of life and in the third Chapter shall shew you that such actions and affections do in a Natural sense conduce to the same end of health and long life and in the fourth Chapter prove that the same means through the blessed influence of Divine Providence do become occasions of the same Natural effects and in the last Chapter shall answer some Objections briefly and then conclude the whole CHAP. II. Shewing in general and particular that vertuous regular actions affections are in a super-natural sense conducing to the preservation of health and prolongation of life IF we search the Scriptures we shall find a great Cloud of witnesses and testimonies ushering in this truth viz. that a life led in Religion vertue and the fear of God doth conduce much to the health of Body and also length of dayes As for instance it is written Ye shall serve the Lord your God and I will take sickness away from the midst of thee Exod. 23. 25. Also long life is promised as a blessing unto them that keep the Commandments in these ensuing words That he turn not aside from the Commandment to the right hand or to the left to the end that he may prolong his dayes in his Kingdom Deut. 17. 20. Also in these That thou mayest love the Lord thy God and that thou mayest obey his voice and that thou mayest cleave unto him for he is thy life and the length of thy dayes Cap. 30. vers 20. Again health is promised upon like conditions Be not wise in thine own eyes saith Solomon fear the Lord and depart from evil It shall be health to thy navel and marrow to thy bones Pro. 3. 7 8. Thus Jesus Christ the grand Exemplar of innocency and integrity was without sin and therefore without sickness More particularly these blessings are held forth as temporal rewards of sundry Moral Civil and Religious acts and duties and this may appear both by Divine and Humane Authority First then in respect of obedience to Parents we find long life promised as a motive to it in the fifth Commandment Honour thy father and thy mother that thy dayes may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee Exod. 20. 12. Which the Apostle calleth the First Commandment with promise Eph. 6. 1 2. viz. the first affirmative Commandment or the first in the second Table or the first of all the Ten with promise in particular to them that keep it Which promise sheweth that a more plentiful blessing in this kind followeth from our obedience to this than to the other Commandments And yet I confess obedience in general meets with the same blessing as the Psalmist doth denote unto us What man is he that desireth life and loveth many dayes that he may see good keep thy tongue from evil and thy lips from speaking guile Depart from evil and do good seek peace and pursue it Psal. 34. 12 c. However there lieth a special Emphasis upon the particular observance of the aforesaid Commandment by an express and particular promise of long life But doth this promise alwayes hold Yes surely it holdeth generally and for the most part in comparison of the wicked who do not live out half their dayes Psal. 55. 23. and if it fail it is but rarely and then in exchange for the better that as the Prophet saith The righteous may be taken away from the evil to come Isay 57. 1. I say but rarely it fails for to say otherwise were to make the promise of no effect and the tenor of the Commandment very ambiguous But do not the disobedient live long also truly they have no promise for it and commonly they are cut off by an untimely death or if some of them be reprived until old age they are but comparatively few being reserved only as so many examples of God's mercy and forbearance as the rest being many are soon cut off as examples of his justice Long life then is most commonly the reward of obedience and piety to Parents And it must needs be so when Divine Providence which is more then a Wall of brass to encircle and secure us taketh such especial care in the protection and preservation of such as are endued with that eminent vertue as appeareth by what Aristotle telleth us viz. how that from the Hill Aetna there ran down a torrent of fire that consumed all the houses thereabout yet in the midst of those fearful flames God's especial care of the Godly and obedient shined most brightly For the River of fire parted it self and made a kind of lane for those who ventured to rescue their aged Parents and pluck them out of the jaws of death Ipse dixit 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Arist. de mundo cap. 6. If Providence then wrought so much in a miraculous way for the preservation of the lives of Heathens to reward their duty shewed towards their Parents surely Christians the Children of God whose obedience to Parents springeth originally from their obedience to their Heavenly Father may with much more confidence depend upon the same Providence for the like preservation and so by consequence the prolongation of their lives as a reward of the same duty Now though I have insisted upon the afore-mentioned Commandment in a literal sense yet by the rules of extension requisite for the interpretation thereof we are to understand there not only our Natural Parents but as Spiritual Fathers 1 Cor. 4. 15. as Ministers and political Fathers Gen. 45. 8. as Magistrates and oeconomical Fathers 2 Kings 2. 12. 5. 13. as Masters and matrimonial Fathers as Husbands Eph. 5. 22. to all which a respective obedience may I suppose claim a share or portion in the promise of long life In the Second place devout and zealous Prayer in a super-natural way procureth bodily health and so by consequence length of dayes to enjoy the same Sick Abimelech was sent to Abraham a Prophet to be healed by prayer Now therefore saith God restore the man his wife for he is a Prophet and he shall pray for thee c. Gen. 20. 7. So Abraham prayed unto God and God healed Abimelech v. 17. So then Abimelech was healed by God as the supream and efficient cause by prayer as the instrumental Hence it is the Son of Sirach adviseth us My son in thy sickness be not negligent but pray unto the Lord and he will make thee whole Eccles. 38. 9. And also soon after sheweth us that the good success of Physicians depends upon something beyond the Sphaere of Natural means and that is prayer unto the Physician of Physicians the

performed as the instrument Whereunto are annexed about sixty Testimonials of several credible Persons most of them eminent and worthy of the chief matters of fact therein related Which printed Certificates being examined and compared with the Original Testimonials which were left in the hands of Mr. Starkey the Stationer to that end namely for a certain evidence to Mr. Boyle and for the full satisfaction of all those that are any wise scrupulous that they might see that they were verbatim the same In this respect I suppose it unreasonable to interrogate with Nicodemus How can these things be John 3. 9. seeing there is such a clear demonstration de facto of what was seen done I confess saith a learned modern Author of our own I cannot see any reason why God may not yet for the conviction if Insidels employ such a power of Miracles although there be not such necessity of it as there was in the first propagation of the Gospel Yet God may please saith he a little after out of his abundant provision for the satisfaction of the minds of men concerning the truth of Christian doctrine to imploy good men to do something which may manifest the power of Christ to be above the Devils Dr. Stillingfleet's Origines Sacrae pag. 270. To be short as our Saviour being in the flesh had power on Earth to cure incurable Diseases miraculously that is without Natural means so being in Heaven his power is no less but rather greater over all bodily Diseases to cure them with or without means whensoever he will So that this may comfort us in time of dangerous sickness though our Disease be incurable by Physick or any Natural means yet in this case we are to remember the absolute power of Christ Jesus our Lord who can heal us without means if he see it expedient for us And that his will doth in this case frequently concur with his power note further that Man's extremity is God's opportunity where Man's help faileth Christ's help beginneth Let us then seek to him by Prayer and rest on him by Faith not neglecting ordinary means by a too frequent dependance upon or expectation of miraculous Cures nor yet forgetting that if the means fail or cannot be had his power is not tied to means but is above them and can and doth sometimes recover us without them when he seeth it good for us I conclude the Point then thus that Gods blessing upon the Natural means and his blessing without means are each received most successfully and comfortably by the hand of Faith which is the extraordinary means conducing to the health of Body as the ordinary to the health of Soul Fourthly Repentance if true and sincere doth in the same extraordinary way conduce to the health of Body and prolongation of Life And this may be proved First in express terms and Secondly by consequence First In express terms by sundry Texts of sacred Writ Miriam by repentance was freed from the Leprosie Num. 12. 11. 21. 7. The Israelites repenting obtained a remedy against the fiery Serpents and thereby were delivered from imminent death David after the death of seventy thousand of his People by repentance prevented the destruction of Jerusalem 2 Sam. 24. 16 17. Rehoboam and the Princes repenting at the preaching of Shemaiah were delivered from destruction 2 Chr. 12. 7. Hezekiah having received a message of death upon his repentance had his life lengthened by a Lease from above two lives more in our Law Isay 38. v. 1. 10. 6. Secondly By consequence For sublatâ causâ tollitur effectus the cause which is sin being taken away the effect which is bodily sickness and shortness of Life as I have fully declared and evinced in the former part of this Treatise must needs cease and be removed or prevented and avoided And therefore Repentance as you see may rationally be concluded effectual for the health of the Body and the prolongation of a temporary Life as it was alwayes granted propitious to the health of the Soul in order to ever lasting Life To summ up all let us not think it incredible that these vertues and graces should in such an extraordinary manner conduce to the preservation of bodily health removal of sickness and prolongation of Life when we consider the power of God with whom all things are possible Mat. 19. 26. and the manifestation of that power not only in the sundry miraculous cures of bodily Diseases recorded in the Old and New Testament but also in some such cures or very like them taken notice of in our modern History and experience The miraculous Cures in both Testaments the Reader may take notice of at his leasure I shall instance now only in Humane Story and modern Evidence A late intelligent Author and faithful Relator telleth us that to the Kings of England quatenus Kings doth appertain one prerogative that may be stiled super-excellent if not Miraculous which was first enjoyed by that pious and good King Edward the Confessor that is to remove and to cure the Struma or Scrofula that stubborn Disease called The Kings Evil. Which manifest cure saith he is ascribed by some malignant Nonconformists to the power of Fancy and exalted Imagination but what can that contribute to small Infants whereof great numbers are cured every year Dr. Chamberlain in his present State of England The manner of the Cure is briefly thus related There is an appointed short Form of Divine Service wherein are read besides some short Prayers pertinent to the occasion two portions of Scripture taken out of the Gospel and at these words They shall lay their hands on the sick and they shall recover the King gently draws both his hands over the sore of the sick Person and those words are repeated at the touch of every one Again at these words That light was the true light which lighteth every man that cometh into the world pertinently used if it be considered that that Light did never shine more comfortably if not more visibly than in the healing of so many leprous and sick Persons At those words the King putteth about the neck of each sick Person a piece of Gold called from the impression an Angel because in value about two thirds of a French Pistol Thus far He. Now the effect is clear de facta and from experience and cannot therefore be rationally denyed and 't is as clear that the cause must be super-natural in regard that neither the hands of the King not the piece of gold given by him have any natural or accidental power or tendency in themselves to effect or produce such a Cure especially in Infants whose imagination cannot be wrought upon and disposed for the furtherance of it by such outward applications as are then used Another Instance to our present purpose we may find in a modern Collection being true and faithful Relation of one Samuel Wallas who was restored to his perfect health after thirteen years sickness

Providence it was that this Boy should be by to detect and defeat their wicked counsel whereby Paul escaped as a Bird out of the snare Austin relates how by losing his way as he was travelling he thereby saved his life escaping an Ambush of the bloody Donatists who had way-laid him The Stories are well known how Moulin at the time of the Parisian Massacre was cherished for a fortnight by a Hen which came constantly and laid her eggs there where he lay hid And at Cales how an English-man who crept into a hole under a pair of stairs was there preserved by means of a Spider which had woven its web over the hole and so the Souldiers slighted the search in that place No less remarkable is the signal preservation of those vertuous and religious Potentates Queen Elizabeth King James and our now gracious Soveraign Charles the Second thorow an Ocean of dangers by that discreet Pilot Divine Providence All which Instances are a sufficient Comment upon this Text He that is our God is the God of salvation and unto God the Lord belong the issues from death Psal. 68. 20. And the result of the whole Point is this That as man liveth not by bread alone but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God Mat. 4. 4. that is to say as bread though ordinarily it hath a nourishing property inhaerent in it for the sustaining of man's life yet so only as that the operation of that and success of other means tending to the preservation of health and prolongation of life is guided by the power of God's Providence and appointment So the sweet influence of this Providence is chiefly and principally intended and extended to the Children of God in blessing the means used by them to that end and purpose Therefore are those sacred Texts prescribed as corroboratives to the Servants of God And ye shall serve the Lord your God and he shall bless thy bread and thy water and I will take sickness away from the midst of thee Exod. 23. 25. Also Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing and one of them shall not fall on the ground without your Father Fear ye not therefore ye are of more value than many sparrows Mat. 10. 29 31. If then the eye of God's Providence be so watchful to defend and preserve the meanest of his Creatures that Sparrows which are so cheap and worthless and also such short-liv'd Birds as Naturalists observe shall not perish or die without the permission and concurring will of God in second causes then surely we must not asperse our Saviour's Logick by denying the inference from Sparrows to the Children of God seeing this is the scope of the Argument urged by our Saviour in that place namely that if the eye of Divine Providence be so careful and circumspect in the preservation of the meanest Creatures Much more is the eye of the Lord as David saith upon them that fear him upon them that hope in his mercy To deliver their soul from death and to keep them alive in famine Psal. 32. 18 19. And thus much shall serve briefly to have demonstrated in general that vertuous and regular actions and affections do through the blessed influence of Divine Providence upon means prove often occasions of bodily health and long Life CHAP. V. Some Objections briefly answered And the Conclusion of the whole Obj. 1. THe first Objection is of those who cry up an irresistible Decree a fatal necessity predetermining the bounds of Man's life and so consequently cry down the use of all means whether Spiritual or Natural as needless and frivolous in order to the preservation of health and prolongation of life And they bolster up their opinion with the forecited words of Job by them wrested Is there not an appointed time to man upon earth are not dis dayes also like the dayes of an hireling Job 7. 1. Doubtless an error herein hath been very prejudicial not only to the Physicians Practice but also the Patients health And lest it should likewise obstruct the good effect designed in this Treatise we will not let it pass uncontrolled For whosoever alloweth this error must of necessity disallow the Petition in the Lord's Prayer for our daily bread as also of all the Divine Prayers made for the prolongation of life and preservation from mortal danger or sudden death as likewise of the dispensation of the gift of Healing to the Physician whom God hath created and honoured to the same end and purpose and of all other means whatsoever tending to the temporal end and design of this Discourse Answ. Now in answer hereunto I shall endeavour to unfold those Texts of sacred Writ wherein the main strength of the Objection lieth as namely the forecited place and also that in the 14 th of Job v. 5 th Seeing his dayes are determined the number of his moneths are with thee thou hast appointed his bounds that he cannot pass Here then the words of Job concerning the end of life limited set and appointed are not to be referred unto causes of destiny but to the obedience and disobedience of God's Commandment Or we may more largely answer with some See Piscator upon Psal. 55. 23. Marianus upon Job 14. 5. that the term of Mans life is twofold 1. Super-natural 2. Natural 1. Super-natural As it is decreed from above in the fore-sight and determination of God which doth not alwayes agree with the Natural and thus as Marianus saith A primâ die pendet extrema in ortu sanxit quantum quisque victurus est The last day depends upon the first and at our birth yea before we were conceived God hath concluded how long every Man should live as he that fore-seeth as well the wayes that we would go as the end which those wayes would bring us to 2. Natural Which a Man may attain unto by his Natural strength unless he doth neglect the means or shorten his own dayes by some unlawful deeds and thus the Godly may be said to prolong their dayes when by their upright life they have the assistance of the Divine Clemency to produce them to the furthest period that their Natural strength could carry them So Abraham lived to a good old age Gen. 25 8. and so divers of God's Saints became old Men and full of years And on the contrary the wicked may be rightly said to shorten his dayes when for his impiety the Divine hand of Heaven doth abridge that ample time which he might have lived and when according as he determined from the beginning when he fore-saw his wayes he doth measure his life with a shorter line then the strength of Nature would have done So lascivious Zimri was cut off for his sins in the midst of his age so the Old world so the Sodomites so the Galileans so all those Sinners that do provoke the hand of God to use the Sword of Justice to cut them off for their