Selected quad for the lemma: spirit_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
spirit_n	form_n	prayer_n	use_v	5,241	5	6.1492	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A70390	A sermon preach'd at Turners-Hall, the 5th of May, 1700 by George Keith ; in which he gave an account of his joyning in communion with the Church of England ; with some additions and enlargements made by himself.	Keith, George, 1639?-1716.	1700 (1700)	Wing K209; ESTC R14185	28,024	34

are the more knowing and judicious and of best repute among them either for Piety or Learning and it will be found that they have more Books of Church of England Divines and other forraign Divines who own Communion with her than of any others And yet for all this shall I be so uncharitably judged and my Friends who go along with me as a sort of Apostates and as having bad Ends and Designs and as some of them I hear suggest against me that I do it for a Living I pray God forgive their uncharitable Judgment I neither was nor yet am so hard put to it for a worldly Living as some imagine and as others wish and desire I mean of my Adversaries among the Quakers who have Prophecied of my outward as well as inward Ruine and longed to have their false Prophecies accomplished against me but God hath hitherto disappointed them and preserved me and mine from Ruine both inwardly and outwardly for which I bless his Name and I hope he will preserve me to the End Why should the Expectation of a Living incline me more to the Church of England than to the Dissenters Had I joyned with them I might have got a Living among them perhaps more plentiful by the Peoples Gratuities than by a Set maintenance in the Church of England Which last way of living I think is the more Honourable and less obnoxious to many great Temptations and every way as suitable to the Gospel I find that the Church of God in Scripture is compared to an Army whose Captain is our blessed Lord Jesus Christ called the Captain of our Salvation Now suppose there were two Armies in the Field the one very great and numerous the other far less in Number as suppose the one Thirty thousand the other Ten pray tell me whether it is not more safe for us all who are concerned in one common Cause against the common Enemy to keep within the Body of the Army then in several Parties to straggle and keep asunder from it or Entrench by themselves The like is our present Case both the Church of England and all called Protestant Dessenters profess to be concerned in one common Cause against Papists Turks and Jews Deists and Atheists and others guilty of vile Heresies in a Spiritual Warfare Is it not therefore more prudent and safe to unite together in one Body of Christian Society and Communion against the common Enemy that we may be the stronger especially seeing the differences betwixt the Church of England and the more judicious and moderate of the Dissenters are not in any Materials either of Doctrine or Worship but the very same as they have Confessed Have not these Divisions and Separations had bad Effects weakned the Protestant Interest strengthned the Papists yea and Deists and Atheists and loose and scandalous Persons who take occasion to say there is no true Religion on either side by observing the great Heats and Annimosities and bitter Prejudices of the differing Parties I will now come to answer what I think they will object mainly against my Reason above given They will tell us that if the parity or equality on both Sides were the same my Reason would be good but they will alledge there is a great disparity and inequality the Dissenters having the Advantage in several Particulars as 1st in Doctrines 2dly in manner of Worship 3dly Administration of the Sacraments 4thly Church Governments which say the Dissenters is more agreeable to Scripture among them than in the Church of England To every one of which I think to say something as briefly as I can And First as to the Doctrine as touching the Articles of Faith the Quakers excepted they profess to be one with the Church of England and have signed or profess themselves willing to sign to her Articles Secondly as to the manner of Worship which the Dissenters contend for should be wholly by an extempore Gift of the Spirit whereas the Church of England though she alloweth that Ministers before and after Sermon may Pray without a Set Form either read or repeated from the bare Memory by using their sanctified Parts and Gifts of Understanding to Conceive Prayer by the Help of the Spirit yet She is not only for the Lawfulness of Set Forms of Prayer composed by Pious Men of Spiritual Abilities both ancient and late but for the great Conveniency and Profitableness of them yea and Necessity of them in many respects in the Publick Worship of God leaving every one to their Christian Freedom whether to use or not use Set Forms in their Closet and Private Devotions But to this I say The most Pious as well as Judicious whom the Dissenters esteem so and repute as their Fathers and others that repute them not so yet will allow that they were very holy and spiritual Men have owned the Lawfulness of Set Forms of Prayer yea not only the Lawfulness but the great Conveniency and Necessity of them in the Publick Worship of God Calvin one of the most famous of the Protestant Reformers was for them as I proved to you some time ago Quod ad formulam precum c. As to the Form of Prayers and Ecclesiastical Rites Note that I greatly approve that it be certain from which it may not be lawful for Pastors to depart in their Function both to guard against the Simplicity and Unskilfulness of some and also that the Consent of all the Churches among themselves may be more certainly known And lastly to Put a Check to the insolent Liberty of some who affect certain Innovations So then it behoveth there be a Set or fixed Catechism a Set Admininistration of Sacraments also a Set Form of Prayers out of his express words in his Letter to the Protector of England Epist 87. The Protestant Churches abroad in Germany Holland Poland Sweden Denmark and France from the beginning of the Reformation to this very day have used Set Forms of Prayer and Thanksgiving in their Publick Worship And yet I think the Dissenters here will not conclude that their Worship was wholly carnal dead and without Life or Spirit as many of them do now argue against the publick Prayers of the Church of England The Life and Spirituality of Prayer doth not consist in the Mode or Form of the words whether Set or Extempore say all sound and judicious Christians but in the Purity and Fervour of the Affections And therefore an Extempore Prayer may be very Formal dead and dry and a Prayer in a Set Form may be very lively powerful and effectual as the experience of Thousands daily confirm And suppose the Dissenters would be so uncharitable to judge that Calvin's Prayers at Geneva in Set Forms and Luther's in Wittenberg and all the other Protestants Prayers in Set Forms were barely Formal Carnal Dead and Dry and the blessed Protestants Prayers who died Martyrs in Queen Mary's Reign that used Set Forms yea many of these now in use which would

be great uncharitableness Will they dare to judge so of the publick Prayers of the Church of Christ that were in Set Forms in the purest Times of Primitive Christianity from the days of the Apostles in the Three First Centuries as is evident from Church History before Popery was heard of in the World Or will they be so uncharitable to Censure the publick Prayers of the Jewish Church in her best and purest Times who had Set Forms of Worship both for Prayer and Thanksgiving And that it was the constant manner of the Jewish Church to have a Part of the Publick Worship with the Priests joining with them in Vocal Prayer with their Mouths and Lips Both in Prayer and Thanksgiving is clear from many places of Scripture in the Old Testament where no doubt their Assemblies both in the Temple and Synagogues consisted of a great mixture of good and bad Sincere and Hypocritical see Psal 50. 15 16. This was spoken not to Priests only but to the People and Isai 29. 13. where the Lord blam'd not the People simply for drawing near to God with their Mouth and honouring him with their Lips but that while they did give him that outward Part of Worship they had removed their Heart far from him and gave him not the internal as well as the external Part of Worship the internal being as the Soul and the external as the Body of it This clearly shews what the manner of their Publick Worship then was and that the People that assembled did really Pray Vocally with the Priests and that they did Offer unto God the Calves of their Lips according to Hos 14. 2. And in like manner the Christians in their Assemblies are commanded to Offer up unto God the Fruit of their Lips Heb. 13. 15. and though the Sacrifice of Praise is there only mentioned yet no doubt Prayer is also understood and is as real a Duty for the People to practise as that of Praise and if People may Sing with the Spirit and yet use Set Forms as they do in Singing David's Psalms in Publick Congregations all of them some Anabaptists excepted why may they not Pray with the Spirit in Set Forms If the Set Form quench not the Spirit in Singing why should it be supposed to do it in Praying It is indeed one of the chiefest Reasons that perswade me that in the Publick Worship of God Set Forms are necessary because the People ought to have a Part of the external Worship as well as the internal by Confessing Praying and giving thanks in Common with their Mouths and Lips as in believing in one Common Faith with their Hearts being a holy Priesthood unto God 1 Pet. 2. 5. And whereas they say the Ministers Mouth when he Prays is the Peoples Mouth unto God in Publick Prayer As this is allowed that sometimes so it is but to say it is always and must be always so is without ground yea is hurtful and prejudicial for so as God is denied that external Service from the People that is due to him of Adoration the People is deprived of that which is their Priviledge and a great Benefit unto them to speak unto God by themselves and not by a Proxy always when they Pray And if Prayer with the Mouth be a Duty in Private for all Christian People it is no less a Duty or rather much more in Publick We are Commanded to Confess with the Mouth as well as Believe with our Heart to hold fast the Profession of our Faith the Greek word in both places signifies a joint Confession simul dicere to say together How should we know one anothers Faith that we hold it fast but by holding fast the Profession of it in joining together in the Christian Assemblies Vocally and with word of Mouth to Confess what we Believe as we are Commanded and as with one Mind so with one Mouth to Glorifie God Rom. 15. 6. This one Mind is the Consent and Harmony of many Minds and therefore the one Mouth is not one simple Mouth of the Minister no more than it is one single Mind of the Minister but the Consent and Harmony of many Mouths even of the whole Congregation There is a greater Advantage and Benefit in Vocal Prayer by the Organs of Speech when duly performed both in Private and Publick than many do well understand and especially in Publick both for their own good and the good of others Although our Prayers neither Vocal nor Mental move God properly speaking yet they move our selves and others and if the Spirit of God assist in our Vocal Prayers as we have cause to believe he doth so assist all good Christians though not in that manner as he did the Prophets that Motion kindles a Celestial Fire both in our selves and others that hear us and if one Mouth so divinely moved kindles a little many Mouths so moved will kindle a great deal St. James tells us the Tongues of wicked Men are set on the Fire of Hell and that one Tongue is like a little Spark of Fire that kindles a great matter James 3. 5. And why may not we as well conclude that the Tongues of Godly Men are enkindled with Fire from Heaven Yea it stands with good reason that Holy Angels who are present in the Assemblies of the Faithful are moved with the Vocal Prayers and Praises of the Faithful in the Church whereby they know our inward States and Thoughts as Men know our Thoughts by our Words when we sincerely express them for Angels know not our Thoughts immediately but mediately either by audible words or by some soft and gentle motion of our bodily Organs of Speech Also it stands with good reason from Scripture Authority that our blessed Mediatour Jesus Christ not as he is God but as he is Man in our Nature now in Heaven glorified is really moved and affected with the Prayers both Mental and Vocal of the Faithful Heb. 4. 15. We find in the Revelations that after the four Living Creatures i. e. the Body of the Church had sung together their Antheme the Twenty Four Elders i. e. the Governours answered with their Antiphone and the Angels answered both with theirs Rev. 4. 8 9 10. compared with Rev. 5. from ver 8. to 12. Now if the People in the Publick Worship should have a Part joining in Vocal Prayer and Thanksgiving with the Minister and answering him sometimes by saying Amen sometimes by other fit and suitable words this must needs be in Set Forms that both are agreed in and know beforehand otherwise either the People must be tied to his Form which however Extempore to him and free yet to them is a Limitation and Restriction as much and much less safe than to be tied to a Form they had formerly known and been acquainted with or else we must suppose a Miracle to be wrought every time they Pray Vocally together If every of them or any two of them Pray extempore in the