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	watch_v	2,594	5	9.9201	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A30904	Truth cleared of calumnies wherein a book intituled, A dialogue betwixt a Quaker and a stable Christian (printed at Aberdeen, and upon good ground judged to be writ by William Mitchell ...) is examined, and the disingenuity of the author, in his representing the Quakers is discovered : here is also their case truly stated, cleared, demonstrated, and the objections of their opposers answered according to truth, Scripture, and right reason / by Robert Barclay.	Barclay, Robert, 1648-1690.	1670 (1670)	Wing B738; ESTC R22049	63,242	72

not so much as once bowed a knee to call upon God in their families What ground hast thou for this thy beliefe May they not bow their knees in their families though it be hid from the observation of malicious eyes who may so asperse them May they not pray in secret and be seene of the Father to pray according to Matth. 6. 6. Though they cannot be seene by the eyes of malicious Spyes And where a publick testimony in words is required it is also given nor doe wee know any friends of truth who have any whom they can joine with in Prayer in the family but doe meet together in the family and wait together breath together and pray together and that much oftener then thou insinuats sometimes without and sometimes with the outward signification of words so that wee returne this thy charge as false and malicious Thou sayest If this impulse be denyed for Years men all that while according to us must not pray But here thou speakest as one wholly unacquainted with the wayes and motions of the Spirit to suppose such a case which cannot be for the breathings and motions of the Spirit and especially unto Prayer are very frequent unto those who wait for them and are as necessary unto the Children of God as their dayly bread yea and more which the Father withholdeth not but giveth in due season But many times the Spirit of Prayer is felt to move and is answered when there is no liberty given to speake words in the hearing of others nor is thy other supposition lesse vaine and foolish that if aman were at the gates of death and in danger of present drowning yet without an impulse as thou callest it hee must not adventure to cry to God for mercy and help for suppose he did cry vvithout all help of the Spirit vvhat vvould it avail him vvould it have any acceptance vvith God Shew us vvherever a spiritlesse prayer vvas accepted of God or required Nay it is a vaine oblation vvhich is expresly forbidden and it is expresly commanded that praying be alvvayes in the spirit Eph. 6. 18. And as for the Saints vvhen they are dying or in any difficulty wee know the Spirit of prayer will never be wanting to breath through them at such occasions and to give words as there is a service for them But further thou alledgest that this Principle of ours leadeth to woefull security for what need you be d●●quieted for refraining prayer before God thou sayest or any other piece of service seing you have salve at hand to heal this sore and that is the want of an impulse Answ. If any fall into security and refraine prayer it is not that our Principle leadeth into it for our Principle leadeth out of all security into continuall watching unto prayer and wating upon the motions of the Spirit of God now if any feel not these motions they are nothing the lesse guilty becaus by their neglect they provoke the Lord to withhold them and render themselves out of frame to feel or entertaine them and thus who neglect the worship of God are justly under condemnation and if they have peace it is but a false peace which will faile them and as for our peace wee have found it to be great peace but wee have not come by it after such a way as thou doest falsely and rashly judge as by neglecting the worship of God and stopping the mouth of conscience but by being turned to that living VVord and Law of God in our hearts by loving it and cleaving to it yea by receiving the reproofes chastisements of God through it and submitting to the judgement of it when it hath beene as a hammer and as a sword and as a fire in us breaking in pieces and destroying all that false unsound peace wee had created to our selves in the day of our alienation from the light of God in us And unto peace wee are come through great tribulation of soule even such as thou art a stranger unto being ignorant both of the one and the other and so hast therein shewed thy folly in judging what thou knowest not And as for woefull security wee know not where it more abounds then among hypocriticall professors who with the VVhore in the Proverbs offer up their sacrifices of morning and evening prayers and thereby create a peace to themselves though they let their hearts goe a whoring after their lusts all the day did not the Pharisees pray much outwardly and were much in orher outward practises of devotion and so created a false peace and esteeme unto themselves And can you deny but that there are many such among you who make up a false peace to themselves by leaning upon their outward performances Now what If I should charge this upon your Principle wouldst thou think it fair dealing Thirdly Pag. 52. Thou sayest Doth not that opinion tend to Atheisme which rendreth mortification of sin even in this life useless c. Answ. Here thou dealest disingenuously Is mortification of sin uselesse where the end of it is attained And is not perfection the end of mortification Againe thou sayest The opinion of a sinles perfection wounds the very vitals of Religion Answ. Who could have expected that one that pretends to Religion would have beene so brazen-faced as to put such an expression in print What is the end of true Religion but to lead out of sin Do the vitals of Religion consist in sinning or in not sinning If it consist in sinning then they that Sin most are most religious But if it consist in not sinning and keeping the commandements of God without sin then to plead for such a thing as attainable hurteth not the vitals of Religion What! Cannot the Saints live better without sin then with it Yea surely they can live well without that which is a burden and as Death unto their life they whose life is in sin cannot live but in sin but the Saints life is not in sin but in righteousnes And thy consequences are vaine and foolish as 1. That men need not pray for pardon of sin 2. That they need not the Blood of Christ to cleanse them from sin 3. That they need not repentance For wee grant that all have sinned and so need those things by which they may attaine unto perfection and who witnesse perf●ction are come to witnesse the true use of these things and as the Blood of Christ cleanseth from all the sin so is preserveth cleane and such have received the forgivenes of their sins being turned from them unto righteousnes which is the fulfilling of repentance And vvhereas thou sayest Bring me to the particular person that is sinlesse and I shall apply to him that of the Apostle 1. Ioh. 1. 8. Thou shevvest openly thy confusion for by thy applying to him that of the Apostle vvouldest thou inferre a sinlesse man to be a sinning man That is a contradiction but though vvee should bring a man to

supposeth it night be other wise where he sayeth least preaching the Gospell to others I my selfe become a cast away And though some fall away the dishonour of the foolish builder cannot be cast upon God but upon them who fall away for it standeth very well vvith the wisdome and power of God to suffer them to fall away who knowingly and wilfully depart from the Lord and will not concurre with him in the work as subordinate Instruments but resist him though her invite and call yea draw them The next thou citest is 1. Peter 15. Answ. Such as are so kept by the power of God it is through Faith but as they abide not in that power through Faith but wand●r from it they fall and cannot but fall away And as for Ierem. 32. 40. cited by thee it should be translated thus I will putt my fear into their hearts that they may not depart from me so Iunius and Tremellius version or not to depart from me as the Septuagint hath it Now to say that they may not depart is one thing and to say they cannot depart is another Yet where the fear of God coms so to be raised and established in the heart over all wee beleive such cannot depart but every one is not attained to that State where yet the fear of God may have some place And as touching these other Scriptures Ioh. 10. 27. 28. 29. And John 13. 1. and. 1. Iohn 2 19. they speake of those who are come to a through Regeneration who wee doe beleive can never fall away as being be got into the perfect Nature of the elect sheep and Children Nor doth it follow from this that one may be a Child of God to day and a Child of the divell to morrow for these who are once properly the children of God through a true and through regeneration can never become the children of the divel nor be cast out of Gods speciall love that hee beareth to his owne children For to end this matter thou sayest it is safer to question the truth of the graces of those that fall away then the doctrine of the perseverance of the Saints But doest thou looke upon the Quakers as having fallen away if thou doest how comes it that thou bespeakest them in thy Epistle as those who have had reall Grace saying to them did yee attaine to that knowledge of and acquaintance with God which yee have in the use of ordinances and againe yee did run well who did hinder you And againe why should they asperse these ordinances which have beene the means of their conversion Or are these words only a Ioabs kisse by vvhich thou vvouldest kisse the Quakers vvhile in the meane tyme thou hast a svvord hid under thy cloak to strike them thorough under the fifth rib But the Quakers are avvare of thee and having on the armour of God are out of thy reach In the last place Pag. 50. thou undertakest to prove that our errors as thou callest them tend to irreligiousnes and Atheism becaus they tend to take avvay the vvorship due to God but it hath beene heretofore proved that vvee deny not true VVorship but only your idolatrous superstitious worships vvhich cannot truly be called the VVorship of God Our vvay thou sayest tends to irreligiousnes becaus frequently wee goe to meat and come from it vvithout seeking a blessing or returning thanks which is to deny God a part of that Worship vvhich is due to him 1. Tim. 4. 4. 5. Ansvv. to receive the gifts and benefits of God vvith thanks giving and to vvitnes it blessed and sanctified to us by the word and prayer is ovvned by us and to knovv this so vvithout taking off the hat or using of formall speaking of vvords though it be a thing frequently used by us also tends to no irreligiousnes for it is a thing usuall among us vvhen vvee sit dovvne to eat to vvait upon the Lord for some time that vvee may feel his presence and knovv ourselves stated in his fear to vvhich the blessing is● and as vvee there stand if any outvvard expressions be required of any then in Gods fear they may utter them and this is to knovv the blessing indeed and to be in the place that is blessed But for people that are conversing out of Gods fear stated in a Light airy Spirit not only many tym●s laughing and scoffing but some times even blaspheming presently so soone as the meat cometh to clap off their hats and speake a fevv vvords in a custome and so soone as they have done fall to their former vvork againe is not this Atheisme and irreligiousnes for if such did think of God aright and knovv vvhat it vvere to fear him they vvould be far from addressing themselves in such postures unto him neither could they be so impudent as to expect a blessing from him while they stand in that condition to which the curse is annexed In the second place Pag. 51. Thou sayest Doth not the taking men off from prayer tend to Irreligiousnes and Atheisme Now you teach wee must not pray in private nor in families without an impulse therefore Answ. This is no sound argument to take men off from prayer tends to irreligiousnes is granted but to say that a man cannot nor ought not to pray without the Spirits drawing and motion which you commonly name by impulse a vvord vvhich common people doe not understand hath no such tendency or that it takes any off from prayer truly so called is denied For hath that a bad tendencie which take's men off from such Prayers as are abomination are not true Prayers but hypocritical and deceitful As all such Prayers are that are performed without the help of the Spirit Wee say whosoever can pray to the Lord indeed let them pray wee are not to forbid them but that any can pray without the Spirit that wee deny according to 1. Cor. 14. 15. I will pray with the Spirit c. And Rom. 8. 26. likewise also The Spirit helpeth your infirmities for wee know not what wee should pray for as wee ought Now if wee know not what to pray for without the Spirit how can wee pray without it Paul durst not adventure upon this duty without the assistance of the Spirit yea hee said no man could say that Jesus is the Lord but by the holy Ghost but here an arrogant generation will needs by praying without it which yet is not Prayer and such families where this only is used cannot be truly said to call upon God while such truely may be said so to doe that wait upon the Lord and stand in his fear and bring forth the fruits of righteousnes though they be not so much in the external signification of words which also at times is found in our families as the Lord requireth it and giveth utterance And whereas thou sayest That thou beleivest it will be found that some of us for the space of a whole Yeare have