Selected quad for the lemma: prayer_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
prayer_n	pray_v	spirit_n	supplication_n	6,826	5	11.2274	5	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A60621	A catechism for bishops, deans, prebends, doctors, vicars, curates, and all prelaticals, for them to read in the fear of the Lord God, and with a meek and quiet spirit by William Smith.	Smith, William, d. 1673.	1662 (1662)	Wing S4291; ESTC R17813	18,536	24

down in thy Book of Common-Prayer and with mouths and lips so often repeated be thou silent and make no mention of it for thou hast nothing to do with it and though thou hast the words to speak yet thou dost not perform the duty of Prayer being from the Spirit that maketh Intercession with groans that cannot be uttered For Prayer stands not in words but in power and the breathings go forth in secret and the Father that seeth in secret he rewardeth openly and the Babe receives a supply of what it stands in need of and this is performed in the Spirit that knows the need and makes requests with sighs and groans unexpressible and also moves unto words and expressions and here is the unlimited Power which worketh according to the good pleasure of its own Will which thou hast limited in thy set Forms and made Prayers having given forth thy Directions what must be said and how much at a time and people must say no more nor go no further and sometimes thy Minister must say and sometimes the People must say and sometimes the Clerk must say Is not this thy practice in thy Common-Prayer-Book-Worship hast thou not made Epistles and Gospels and Collects and appointed them for their dayes and times and hast thou not made a Letany for thy Priest to say a part and the People to say a part and hast thou not given directions how People must be Married and hast set a Form and made Prayers for the performance of that Service and also how People must be Buried and what is to be said and done in that Service and what the Priest is to say and what the Clerk is to say And hast thou not set a Form and made many Prayers when Bread and Wine is to be received which thou callest a Sacrament and hast thou not set a Form of words for the Priest to say unto the People when he gives it and how it must be received and what words the Priest must speak kneeling and what standing and when he must turn his face to the People and speak with a loud voice and when he must turn his face another way And hast thou not set a Form and made Prayers for Women to be Churched and what the Priest must say and how he must pray in that Service And hast thou not set a Form and made Prayers for Children when they are sprinkled with Water which thou callest Baptizing and hast thou not ordered that there shall be some people provided to undertake for them and hast not thou given them the names of Godfathers and Godmothers and hast thou not ordered that for a Male-Child there must be two Men and one Woman and for a Female two Women and one Man and hast thou not set a Form in words what the Priest must say unto them and what they must say unto the Priest And hast not thou ordered that after all these things performed which thou hast invented then the Priest to pronounce the Peace of God and the Blessing of God upon all the Congregation and then the Service is concluded And is not this thy Common-Prayer-Book-Worship in which thou art limiting the Holy One through thy Tradition and teaching people to ask and pray when the Spirit is not felt to help them And have not people been long asking in thy formed words but have not received neither are they satisfied Oh thou adulterous Tradition what monstrous births hast thou brought forth and what names hast thou given them and how like are thy names unto that which is true Thou hast given thy formed words the name of Prayer and canst say Come let us pray when thou neither feelest the movings of God's Spirit nor his Power but in thy own words which thou hast made and formed canst speak in thy own will and in thy own time and give it the name of Prayer and with thy names hast thou deceived the Nations who have not understood the nature and thy named Church and Preaching and Praying hast thou vailed over with coverings of thy own making which are now rending off from thee and thou canst not hide thy self any longer under the Names for now is the Nature seen in the pure Light of Christ which makes all things manifest and thy Common-Prayer-Book is seen to be conceived in thy adulterous womb and to branch forth from the Pope thy Eldest son and thou art made manifest to be out of the Truth and thy Service and Worship contrary to the Scriptures of Truth and to the Saints Practice who prayed with the Spirit and with the Understanding Trad. But what if my Common-Prayer-Book do not fully agree with the Scriptures and the Saints Practice yet there are many good things in it and many Scripture-sentences which may edifie and comfort Truth That which is born of the flesh is flesh and that is against the Spirit and can neither edifie nor comfort though good words and Scripture-sentences may be spoken for it is not speaking the words of others that doth make a true Prayer or a living Sacrifice but the receiving a measure of the same Spirit of Prayer and Supplication and to feel it poured forth by which Intercession is made and a living Sacrifice performed holy and acceptable which is not in thy Common-Prayer-Book to be found therefore it is made of none effect because thy bowels bring it forth and the Pope gives life and breath unto it and from his loyns it draws its strength and not from the Power of God Trad. I see it is a very hard matter to be owned and received in this day for I could not have been believed that I should have ever been opposed or my Church Preaching or Praying denied but my Singing which is another part of my Worship that is so plainly manifested to be the Saints Practice that certainly there is none can deny that Truth Singing is owned where it is rightly used and practised and who are raised out of the day of mourning by the Power of God and have a Psalm given them in the Spirit they may sing and make melody in their hearts unto the Lord and this is a Spiritual Song which is put into the mouths of the Babes who sing with the Spirit and with the Understanding but David's words being rimed and then tuned and the mouths of Hypocrites filled with them is such a practice as the Saints never used so that the mouths of all thy Singers must be stopped who have never mourned nor have not learned to sing with the Spirit and with the Understanding Trad. But there may be some that are joyful in the Lord and though all cannot witness that state yet they may sing whose right it is Truth None in the Fall have any right to sing but the Ransomed return with Songs and these Songs are not David's words put into meeter and then tuned and sung with a vain mind but the living Praises of the Lord sounded forth of the Babes

far thou art degenerated from the Life and Truth which the Saints enjoyed and possessed and upon which the Church of God hath ever been builded and stood So be cool and hear what Truth saith for now thy Church comes to tryal Thou hast perverted the right way of the Lord by thy Tradition and hast been setting up thy visible things in the stead of that which is spiritual and hast given them a name out of the nature by which thou hast deceived the Nations and thy things that do appear are not the things of God though thou hast made them very beautiful to behold yet a sandy foundation they stand upon and will not abide the day of tryal for the Foundation of thy Church is of thy own laying and the Building is thy own handy-work and thy Church hath been set up in the midnight of Apostasie since the true Church hath been driven into the Wilderness and the Consecration of it hath been performed by men of polluted lips and thy Eldest son hath been the promoter of it who himself hath lost the key of knowledge and so promotes and sets up what thou generates in thy bowels and this is come to pass since the dayes of the Apostles the Spirit of Truth being lost and ravined from darkness hath overspred and gross darkness hath covered and peoples minds have been blinded that thy Witchcraft and Sorceries hath not been perceived and so hast thou formed a false likeness and given it a true name by which thou hast deceived in drawing the minds of people to believe that thy work is that which it is not But the Foundation of God is more sure and the true Church is built upon it and receives its name from the nature and not from any false conception for the Church is in God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ and this is the pillar and ground of Truth and is laid upon Christ the living stone in whom the building is fitly framed and groweth up unto an holy Temple in the Lord and it is presented without spot or wrinkle or any such thing and there is the Consecration of it received in the Holiness of his life and he becomes the Head of it and it is truly his own Body which he takes to himself in everlasting Righteousness and espouseth it in his Life for ever and ever and this doth not decay nor wax old but is the same without any variableness throughout all Generations So is thy Church truly tryed and the Foundation of it is found false and the true Church nature it hath not therefore is the name to be blotted out that from henceforth none may be deceived with it Trad. This is strange that my Church should be questioned which through so many Ages hath been much esteemed and promoted and if it be not right then what is become of those that are gone before and did not know it otherwise Truth In thick darkness things seem to be that which they are not but the day makes them manifest as they are and the Light of Christ truly discovers in the ground and being found amiss they must be questioned and also denied And what other Generations have observed and how they walked is not now the question for they knowing no more and being faithful to what they did know they have their reward And this proves nothing for thy false Church and Worship which thou upholdest by thy Tradition and not from the present manifestation of God's Spirit in this Age and Generation Trad. I shall further consider of this but for my Preaching which is a chief thing in my Worship I know that is sound and there can be nothing against it Truth That Preaching which stands in the demonstration of Gods Spirit and in Power is sound Preaching and pierces through the darkness unto that which lies in bondage and revives and raises it in Power But that Preaching which stands in the enticing words of man's wisdom that is not sound and this is the ground of thy Preaching which is so chiefly esteemed by thee in thy Worship and by which thou deceivest many people having got good words and in thy wisdom speakest them forth and labourest in the strength of that wisdom to entice and draw disciples after thee and so dost thou teach for Doctrine thy own Tradition and other mens lines and labours are the strength of thy Preaching and what Ambrose Austine Luther Calvin Gregory and others have said and what Expositions they have made of the Scriptures thou canst say they have well observed And this is the ground of thy Preaching O thou deceiving Tradition And now is thy Preaching found to be out of Truths power and contrary to the Preaching of those that were made able Ministers not of the Letter but of the Spirit Trad. But cannot I have sound Preaching in my Worship though something from the Fathers may be quoted and observed for they have spoken good things and have expounded the Scriptures plainly and given true meanings of them which is a great help in Preaching Truth Sound Preaching is in the Power of God and not from any Exposition or meaning that from others is given upon the Scriptures for who run thither and speak from that they stretch themselves beyond their own measure which the true Preachers dare not do but keep to the gift of God and as it moves in the measure so it is preached and so believed For true Preaching is a declaration of the Truth of God as it doth arise and make it self manifest to the understanding and so there comes to be a true witnessing of it in the Experience through the operation of the Power of God from which it is preached as it is known and this is not found among old Authors and Expositors nor in thy Rhetorick and Logick or in thy made Doctrines Uses Reasons Helps Motives Arguments and Applications but in the Spirit 's Demonstration and in Power Trad. What is it I can say that will be received and not opposed Those things that I have long observed and Ages past have looked at them to be very good now are denyed but for my Praying in my Worship that I know is right and without exception for it is mentioned in the Scriptures and was practised very much by the Saints and I have the Lord's Prayer and have made many other good Prayers and have set them forth which be very useful and comfortable for all conditions and upon all occasions and I have put them together in a Book which I call the Book of Common-Prayer and make use of it in my Devotion and Worship Truth Prayer in the Spirit the Saints practised and their Service was accepted but from this thou art degenerated and in thy Tradition hast made and formed such Prayers as the Lord hath not required neither doth he open his ear to hear them though thou makest many of them and that which thou callest the Lord's Prayer which is so often set