Selected quad for the lemma: spirit_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
spirit_n	heart_n	pray_v	prayer_n	13,124	5	6.7659	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A30350	Four discourses delivered to the clergy of the Diocess of Sarum ... by the Right Reverend Father in God, Gilbert, Lord Bishop of Sarum.	Burnet, Gilbert, 1643-1715.	1694 (1694)	Wing B5793; ESTC R202023	160,531	125

Laws of Princes were made to Enact it and no Men of Authority could so early and so universally have brought such a change into the Order of the Church when there was nothing to tempt any to affect Preheminence Labour and Sufferings being all that then follow'd this Superiour Rank and yet within less than one Century after the days of the Apostles we do plainly see that this was the Constitution even of those Churches that had been gathered and setled by the Apostles themselves Among whom so visible a thing as the Order in which they had put the Church could not possibly be soon forgotten and this was not complain'd of by the Sects of those days particularly the Montanists that had so fair an appearance by their praying and fasting so much that not only Tertullian was drawn away by it but even the Church seems to have taken a Tincture from some of their Methods whether in imitation of them or on design to out-do them is not so easy to determine yet nothing of this kind was ever objected as if the Church had by the Authority given to Bishops departed from the Apostolical Customs Now I will acknowledge that a bare practice tho very Ancient such as the giving the Eucharist to Infants without a colour for it in Scripture ought not to conclude us but when there is a great deal in Scripture that looks favourably to a thing tho the proof from the words alone should not seem full and positive and when the first Writings and clearest Practices of the Ages that immediately follow'd confirms such an Exposition then we have all that is possible for us to pretend to for giving a fixed and determinate sense to such passages From all this then it is clear that we are now upon the same Constitution as to the main on which the Apostles setled the Churches and that we have all the reason that a thing of this nature is capable of to conclude That the distinction of Bishop Priest and Deacon was setled by the Apostles themselves and is related to by many places in the New Testament The division of the World into Diocesses larger or narrower as well as of Parishes some being excessively large and others as unreasonably small does not a whit alter the nature of the thing in it self since tho' it were to be desir'd that Parishes were nearer an equality in point of Labour and Cure yet this is an Inconvenience that we must bear and not disturb the Church by seeking undue Remedies for it So such Disorders as a length of time a corruption of Manners a change of Governments and Civil Policies has brought into a Constitution may put it out of our Power to procure the Redress of many things that yet will as little warrant a renting the Body or dividing the Church upon any such account as it would justify the lazy Sloth of such as may bring things to a better State and yet do not set about it nor do heartily endeavour it Another head of Objections is to set-forms of Prayer in general as a stinting of the Spirit of Prayer of which mention is often made in the New Testament and which ought to have scope given to it since it is a mean to rouze up and quicken heavy minds which become flat when accustom'd to a constant form of Words that render both the Clergy lazy and the People Dead But when it is consider'd that every Man's words become a form to which all the rest of the Assembly is limited the question then lies naturally between the sudden conceptions of one Man who is often young rash without Judgment and who always speaks on the sudden and between a form well digested and prepared by a Body of wise and good Men Since then the People must be under a Form it may seem much more reasonable that they should be under such a form than under the other and that the rather since we see Moses David and the Prophets of old gave the Jewish Church so many forms both for Prayers and Praises We know that in our Saviour's time the Iews had a stated Liturgy of their own which our Saviour was so far from blaming that he himself prescribed his Disciples a Form and compos'd it out of theirs laying together so many Petitions drawn out of their Prayers as answer'd his end in appointing his own And Praises seeming to be the sublimest Acts of Worship in which the Soul ought to arise to its highest Elevation it is not easily accountable why so much excitation should be required in Prayer while Men are left to be still flat and formal in their Praises It is not to be deni'd but that among the extraordinary Gifts that follow'd the wonderful Effusion of the Holy Ghost one was That Men were Inspir'd to offer up such Prayers to God as comprehended the necessities of whole Congregations it appearing in those Prayers that the Spirit in him that pray'd searched all their Hearts and so did prompt him with groanings that were unutterable and it thus appearing that the Spirit or Inspiration which moved any to pray in this sort searched all things every Man finding the sense of his own Heart thus open'd together with suitable Intercessions it was from thence evident that this was the Spirit of God making Intercession for the Saints in the mouth and words of the Inspir'd Person This being a plain account of those words of Praying in or by the Spirit and well agreeing with every thing said concerning it in the New Testament it is a great mistake if we in these days should expect any such Assistances from God So that now a readiness of new or tender Expressions in Prayer is an effect of a quickness of Thought a liveliness of Imagination together with a good Memory much conversant in Scripture-Phrases and long practised in that way All things by a long use grow flat to minds that are not seriously awaken'd but extemporary Prayers do rather kill than feed true Devotion since they must be hearkened to as Discourses which is a distraction to him that Prays after them whereas those accustom'd to set-forms have only the things themselves that their Devotion relate to in their view so they are certainly less tempted to distraction than they must be who follow the other way Those sudden starts that are given to the mind by soft Words and melting Images of things may be according to the different Compositions of Men more or less useful to them in their secret Exercises but they ought not to be let in upon publick Assemblies which being made up of a great variety of Tempers must be entertain'd only with such Devotions that suit with all their Conditions and do equally quadrate to all their necessities and thus it is not only natural but necessary for all Men who will maintain Order in their Worship and will frame it in so diffus'd an extent as to take all equally within it that they have

Christians to adore as they received it Now in a course of many Ages this difference of several degrees in Prayer and the postures proper to them is quite worn out so that kneeling is become the common posture of all Prayer whatsoever Therefore we receiving in a posture of Prayer do in that follow the constant practice of all Christians in all the best Ages Kneeling is a matter merely ritual and being now grown the common Rite expressing our humility in Prayer we do not depart from the Spirit and Intentions of the Primitive Church since we receive the Eucharist in our posture of prayer as they did in theirs The plausible Exception to all this is That since our Saviour did institute this Sacrament at a Table after Supper it is a needless departing from his Practice and the Pattern that he hath left us to receive it in any other posture If this Objection had any force it should oblige us to receive leaning along according to the posture of sitting at table in those days and if we must adhere to the Circumstances of the Institution the time after Supper and the place an upper room will be as obligatory upon us as the Posture since all these things are of the same order and value But to go to the bottom of this Objection and to shew by a clear parity the just reason of departing from our Saviour's practice in this particular It is to be remembred That when Moses gave out the Institution of the Paschal Festivity he limited that people by express words to a posture They were to eat it with their loins girt and their shoos on their feet with staves in ther hands thus ready to march There is nothing in the Institution that gives the least hint as if this was not meant to be a lasting Precept So here is much more than a bare Example a Precept given in very plain words without any limitation of time And yet when the Israelites were setled in the Land of Canaan at rest and no more obliged to march this change of their Circumstances did from the natural suitableness of things bring on a change in this part of that Festivity They sate about their Tables or rather leaned and so they did eat the Lamb in that lazy posture that expressed the Rest which God had given them And we are sure that in this they committed no error since our Saviour himself justified their practice by conforming to it So here more than a bare practice an express Institution in a ritual matter is changed by a Church that in all such things seems to have been much more tied up to the letter of their Law than the Christian Church is yet a great alteration in their Circumstances made them conclude that this ought to be altered and in that they did right Now if we will apply this to the Christian Passover Christ being in a state of Humiliation and in the form of a Servant institutes it and does it in a familiar posture of Equality with his Disciples at Table but gives no rule how as to that particular it ought to be observed for the future as Moses had done Afterwards a vast change happens in his visible Condition he is raised from the dead and exalted up into Heaven Upon this change therefore with relation to his Human nature that was vastly more important than that which had happenened to the Iews when they were brought into the Land of Promise it seems to have been highly congruous to that practice of the Iews with which the first Christians could not be unacquainted for them to have changed the posture from the appearance of Familiarity to that of Respect and to have brought it to the Posture which they use in Prayer and their other Devotions And this I think is a full answer to every thing that can be objected to our Posture in Receiving Another exception some have to our Administration of this Sacrament That there is no previous examination of those who are admitted to it that a promiscuous multitude comes without any notice given or enquiry made after them tho we are commanded to note such as walk disorderly and to have no fellowship with them that they may be ashamed nay with Brethren that is Christians who live scandalously not so much as to eat To this it is to be answer'd That a great difference is to be made between a Church that lies yet under some defects which she laments and cannot get them to be effectually supplied and a Church that is viciously faulty and blamable in any thing she does If the acts of Church-Communion are in themselves lawful and good so that particular persons are obliged to nothing that can be made appear to be unlawful it can be no reason for them to separate from it because other things are not done which perhaps are fitting and may seem necessary But a further distinction is to be made between things commanded by a Divine Precept and such things as are only recommended by the Practice and Rules of the Church St. Paul does only prescribe this That every man examine himself but does not impose it upon any to examine others and the true Importance of the word render'd Examine is Approve that is Let a man so consider himself as to see whether he is approved of by his own Conscience but this gives no other person an Authority to search into examine or approve such us come to the Sacrament There is therefore no Rule given in the New Testament for any such previous enquiry it was indeed a very Ancient and is upon very many accounts a good and useful practice so to do But how criminal soever a defect in obeying a Divine Law may be it can be no such matter not to observe even the ancientest Rules of the Church that after all do rest only upon a human Authority Those rules concerning scandalous persons belong to the Body in general and if there should be Errors and male-Administrations the Body or rather its Pastors when in a Body are accountable for that and not the the Individuals of the Society who cannot be further concern'd in them than to lament such defects and to use their best endeavours to help them to be redressed so this can never justify a separation because there may be erroneous or scandalous men in a Society who are too much connived at St. Paul finds great fault with many Errors some bad Practices and Scandals among the Corinthians yet tho in one case he thunders a severe Sentence upon a more eminently scandalous man he never so much as insinuates that the rest of the body should separate themselves from those erroneous or irregular men On the contrary he presses the Obligations to Unity most vehemently on the Corinthians tho that was the Church which he charged the most severely of all others both with Errors Disorders in Worship and scandalous Practices It was no wonder If after