Selected quad for the lemma: spirit_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
spirit_n	father_n	holy_a	lord_n	18,241	5	3.9091	3	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A25463	Panem quotidianum, or, A short discourse tending to prove the legality, decency, and expediency of set forms of prayer in the churches of Christ with a particular defence of the book of common prayer of the Church of England... / by William Annand ...	Annand, William, 1633-1689.	1661 (1661)	Wing A3222; ESTC R38624	47,207	64

him 4. Set Forms have been used by an holy Apostle in the Church of God What was spoken by holy men of Old was spoken by the Holy Ghost Paul informs the Thessalonians 2 Thes. 3. 17. concerning the mark and note that he gives all his Epistles to make them the more assured or beget in them a greater saith touching the truth of what 〈◊〉 Writ or certainty of that that he had written the mark it self was a salutation a prayer used in every Epistle It'●… this The grace of our Lord Iesus Christ be with you all and this prayer indeed is the close of every Epistle As Rom. 16. 24. 1 Cor. 16. 23. 2 Cor. 13. 14. Gal. 5. 18. Ephes. 6. 24. Phil. 4. 23. Col. 4. 18. 1 Thes. 5. 28. 1 Tim. 6. 21. 2 Tim. 4. 22. Titus 3. 15. Phil. 21. Doth not the Holy Ghost constantly using this Form declare that a set form of prayer is no sin As in the close so how frequently in the entry of every Epistle is this prayer put up by the s●…me Spirit Grace mercy and peace from God our Father and the Lord Iesus Christ To all that know that there is a Holy Ghost the lawfulness of this practice may by this be known 5. Set Forms of prayer hath been and still are used in and by all the Churches of the Saints our enemies themselves or many of them being contented therewith It hath been and is now the Universal practice of the whole body of the Catholick Church in all Ages present and past and commanded for the future to use 〈◊〉 forms Suppose a Christian Congregation were singing Psal. 6. 1. Lord in thy wrath reprove me not Though I deserve thine ire Ne yet correct me in thy rage O Lord I thee desire would not all that heare them know and might not all that understand them say That they were using a Set Form of prayer And what is more frequent in the Churches of the Saints and what was more usual in the Congregations than to sing praise to the Lord in Songs composed by others It is true the first singing we read of was in the dayes of Moses Exod. 15. a prayer being there composed by some holy man in all probability Moses Revel 15. 3. and used by the whole people in praising God Yet as we are not to suppose that the Fathers before the Flood kept no Sabbath nor they after the Flood knew not or kept not the Seventh day holy though we read of none untill Moses so neither are we to suppose that the Saints in those dayes were without this eminent point of worship as Singing and yet if they were we know that that part of the Church now under the Gospel universally useth it both privately and publickly and by Saint Paul we are enjoyned so to do Colos. 3. 18. Argum. 4. Set Forms seem to be lawful for whatever is required for the sanctifying of a prayer by God may be found in a Set Form of him It is not the word that God regards he takes prayers by weight and not by measure as he takes no delight in the legs of a man neither is he satisfied with the tongue of a man he regards the fixedness of the heart and not the variety of the expression Now there are three graces that God requires in every prayer without which no prayer is accepted and with which no prayer shall be rejected As 1. Faithfulness or sincerity we must pray in faith if ever we would obtain in truth Iames 1. 6. we must lift up pure hands without wrath and without doubting 〈◊〉 set form of prayer may be sent up to heaven with a great deal of faith and if it hath faith though but as small as a grain of mustard-seed it shall not miscarry Did not Christ pray in faith when he cryed thrice to his Father that the Cup might pass from him was not Paul a sinner did not his heart say Amen when his Pen writ so often Grace and Peace be with you Was not the Prodigal in his prayer to his Father strong in faith and was he not heard in what he prayed yea in more than he prayed for which argues that his prayer was mixed with abundance of faith and sincere acknowledgement of his sin 2. Men must pray with earnestness or feelingly there must be a fervency in the breast an earnest desire for the obtaining of that they pray for or for the removing of that they pray against How earnestly will a poor afflicted soul upon a Road beg an Almes of the Passenger and will with as much earnestness beg of another and to both use one kind of Petition Let any put their hands to our Saviours sides in the Garden and put their fingers to his brow and they will feel blood coming out of his flesh surely denoting the earnestness of the soul that was within How feelingly doth the Prodigal pray that he might be but admitted as a servant to his Fathers house since he is no more worthy to be called a son He knows it is better to be his Fathers servant than his own Master and if a man look the space between the Porch and the Altar Joel 2. 17. he shall see it wet with the tears of them that are praying in a set form 3. Men must pray with submissiveness and humility in this grace a set form hath an eminent excellency the gift of extempory fluency may even puff up I speak not this in opposition to the thing Mens hands may even tremble when they pray Lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil See Christ prostrating himself upon the ground and he is a Witness of this To conclude if grace might not be in the heart in the time of using a set form that of St Paul Colossians 3. 16. where he would sing Psalmes with grace in their hearts might be in vain Argum. 5. It seems it is lawful to use a set form of prayer for the Church in the vision of God is shown to the Divine making use of and using in heaven a set form of prayer Revel 15. 3. If Heaven here be taken for the seat of the blessed the New Ierusalem the seat of God then a majore ad minus we argue What 's done by that part of the Church Triumphant above may lawfully be done by that part that is Militant beneath If by Heaven here be signified the Church as it often in this Book doth then it holds out the same truth the songs are two First the song of the Lamb of which we have only a negative description showing its ekcellency Revel 14. 3. And Secondly the song of Moses of which we have a large Narr●…tion Exod. 18. However it be set forms being in Heaven holds out 1. That God is contented with and delighted in such a form Nothing is in Heaven but what the mind and goodness of God to the highest degree is satisfied with and by God therefore whose eye cannot behold