Selected quad for the lemma: spirit_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
spirit_n	pray_v	prayer_n	supplication_n	6,912	5	11.1562	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A44145	Letters written to J.M. a nonconformist teacher, concerning the gift and forms of prayer The second part. By Matthew Hole, B.D. sometime fellow of Exeter College, Oxon. now vicar of Stoke-gursey in Somersetshire.; Correct copy of some letters written to J.M. a nonconformist teacher, concerning the gift and forms of prayer. Part 2.	Hole, Matthew, 1639 or 40-1730.	1699 (1699)	Wing H2410; ESTC R215281	96,332	185

vulgar Minds and such as are mostly led by Imagination that are thus taken with the Novelty and Sound of Words and seek about for Variety of Expressions Now this is a Weakness in them which you should be so far from cherishing and encourageing that you ought rather to use your best Skill to perswade them out of it and to let them know that God neither expects nor is delighted with these things For true Religion inclines still to the doing and speaking the same things He that endeavours to keep up a constant Reverence and Fear of God in his Heart and by a daily continued Practice desires the same Blessings in the same Words shall be more soberly and religiously devout and find better Acceptance with him than he that loves and labours for new Words and thinks he shall not be accepted without a Multitude or Variety of Expressions The Study whereof is more apt to distract than compose the Mind in this Duty Indeed where God in his Providence hath done any new thing either by sending some new Judgment or Calamity or by bestowing some new Mercy or Deliverance here in our publick Fasts and Thanksgivings there must be such new Words as may suit such Occasions And Thanks be to God the pious Care and Wisdom of our Governours is never wanting to make a due and suitable Provision for us on such Occasions But for the constant Matter of our daily Prayers and Praises there can be no need of new Words but only to bring new Hearts and good Affections in the use of the old well-digested Words and Composures of the Church We read of our Saviour's praying three times most earnestly using the same Words so that these can neither hinder the Earnestness nor the Efficacy of true Devotion In the Prayer that Christ gave his Disciples and in all the Prayers he put up himself he hath left no Command or Example for such unnecessary Variation but rather the quite contrary and therefore you are to consider further how you will excuse it from Superstition to think that God is pleas'd with many and new Words or displeas'd without them Which is to place Religion in things which God hath no where requir'd at your hands and to lay a doctrinal Necessity in the Inventions of Men Which is a piece of Will-worship and Superstition As for the Multitude of Words Solomon hath shew'd that to be an Occasion of Sin Prov. 10.19 and an Instance of great Folly Eccles 5.2 and therefore wills that our Words unto God should be few And our Blessed Saviour condemned the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Matth. 5. or much speaking of the Heathens and all that imitate them And as for the Change and Variety of Expressions in Prayer there is not the least Colour of a Command or Encouragement for it in Holy Scripture for tho' we are bid To pray 〈◊〉 all prayer and supplication in the spirit Ephes 6.18 That is by the same Apostle expounded of the several parts of Prayer but is understood by none 1 Tim 2.12 of extempore or varied Prayers So that to make it a Ministerial Duty to pray without Book and to put the Vulgar upon beating their Brains for new Phrases as a more spiritual way of praying cannot be excused from Vanity and Superstition Yea a Learned and Ingenious Divine hath shew'd this to be a sort of Idolatry For the Mis-representation of God and worshipping him according to that Misrepresentation is the Sin of Idolatry Now to think to please God with new and varied Phrases in Prayer is to mis-represent him and to take him for such an one as our selves and by offering up such Prayers we worship him according to that Image and false Representation of him And therefore 't will be hard to excuse this Practice from the Sin of Idolatry Yea such Persons not only represent God under the Shape of a Man but pray to him as represented under the Weaknesses of a Man And certainly if the Mis-representation of the Object makes the Idolatry by how much the worse the Representation is by so much the grosser must the Idolatry be Sir If you will throughly weigh and consider these things you will find That the main Work and Business of Prayer lies in the Heart and the good Motions of it And therefore the Gift or Ability of performing it must properly be placed there So that your great Mistake all this while hath been in taking the Gift of wording Prayer for the Gift of Prayer To rectifie which you must know that Words are no part of Prayer or if they were the well-consider'd and digested Words of a Form are far more agreeable to the Nature and Dignity of this Duty and the Majesty we address to in it than any present and hasty Expressions And consequently the Gift of composing pious and well-ordered Forms for publick and private Devotion is in this Sense far more fitly styl'd the Gift of Prayer than your Talent of Extemporary Effusions But at rast I find you in that Letter of April 15th acknowledging that the offering up pious Desires to God without the use of any Words is Prayer in a proper Sense and that pious Souls who are duly affected with their Wants Sins and Mercies may be said to have the Gift of Praying acceptably to God in a spiritual manner without them Where you seem to place the Gift of Prayer as it should be in the Heart Yea all your own Arguments and Distinctions if well consider'd do most properly and principally place it there For what you call the special internal devout spiritual and successful Gift is truly the Gift or Grace of Prayer And what you style the common external and artificial Gift is properly the Gift of Speech Utterance and Elocution applyed to the Duty of Prayer And for the Novelty and Variety of Words you grant in your Letter of April 1st that 't is no further necessary than as the various Matter and Occasions require So that Thanks be to God by these Concessions that part of the Controversie is come to a pretty good Issue It remains then that you endeavour to undeceive the People and take them off from their vain and high Thoughts of this Verbal Gift That they may return to the Ancient Publick and Devout Prayers of the Church from which they have ignorantly swerved I am Yours in all true Affection M. H. July 24th 1697. LETTER II. SIR I Consider'd in my last the Letters relating to the Gift of Prayer and finding nothing of moment objected against them that may need or deserve a farther Answer I proceed to the Letters that relate to Forms of Prayer About which two Things are chiefly to be considered viz. 1st their Lawfulness and 2dly their Expediency And that we may bring Things to some good Issue I will shew how far we are agreed that we may the better compromize Matters where we differ 1. First then We are agreed about the lawfulness of

shews them to be very just and impartial Judges However since such weak or rather wilful Persons who are impatient of Truth and resolve to shut both their Eyes and Ears against it do thereby plainly appear to be prejudiced and incompetent Judges in the Case The whole Matter is referr'd to the better Judgment of more knowing and lessbyass'd Readers Farewell LETTER I. To J. M. SIR I Receiv'd another Packet of Letters from you in which I find you trying your Skill in making some Replies to my former Letters concerning the Gift and Forms of Prayer but to how little purpose I hope to make you sensible by degrees And to that end all that you offer in them of any moment shall be consider'd in due time and order 1 First then for the Letters that concern the Gift of Prayer your own Concessions seem to bid fair towards an Accomodation For you begin to see that an Ability or Variety of Expressions are tho' vulgarly yet improperly and abusively styl'd The Gift of Prayer For in your Letter of April 1st you tell me you can well enough grant that such an Ability as you mention is not properly the Gift of Prayer and that 't is only the Gift of uttering Prayer and comfort your self with this That however improper it may be you are not the first that have so styl'd it This is a good Concession if you would keep to it for hereby you may see Prayer to be no Verbal but Spiritual thing and consists mainly in the inward Desires and Breathings of the Soul after God In your Letter of April 15th you own this Ability to be such a Gift as that by which the Pharisees Hypocrites and all wicked Men are said to pray Which must be very improperly call'd by the sacred Name of Prayer since 't is All no better than an Abomination to the Lord. If then this Gift doth not properly lie there there must be some other thing in which it may be more properly placed And the Knowledge of that would clear up this matter What then should that be Why we see it must lie either in the Heart or the Tongue i. e. either in the pious motions of the one or in the nimble and ready motion of the other Now I think you will scarce venture to put it in the nimbleness of the Tongue which is apt to run too fast and out of the way too and may not be trusted without a Bridle And therefore the Psalmist resolved to keep his Mouth as it were with a Bridle to restrain its Extravagance and to look to his Ways that he might not offend with his Tongue And St. James tells us That He that offends not with his tongue especially when let loose must be a perfect man So that this Gift cannot be safely plac'd there especially since the whole Work and Business of Prayer may be perform'd without it Now if you would but speak out and make the Heart the proper place of it which is indeed the true Seat of all Devotion there might be a speedy end of that part of the Controversy And the better to encourage you to speak out in a matter of this Consequence consider Sir the three different ways of addressing or drawing nigh unto God viz. 1. The First is with the Heart and that is performed by the inward Desires and Elevations of the Mind and Soul to him and this is very truly and properly styled Prayer and is all that is Essential to it 2. The Second is with the Lips when the Heart is far from Him And this may be rather called vain talking and babling than praying to him 3. The Third is with the Heart and Lips together that is when the Heart and the Tongue accompany each other And this is that Vocal Prayer used in publick whereby we are enabled with one Mind and one Mouth to glorifie our Great Creator Now here two things are carefully to be distinguish'd the one is an Ability of lifting up the Heart in holy Desires unto God And this is properly the Gift of Prayer the other is an Ability of expressing those Desires and putting them into fit Words And this is properly the Gift of Speech Utterance and Elocution the use whereof in Prayer is to help us to join together in our Requests and to put up the same Petitions And this is far better done in the known consider'd Words of godly Forms than the sudden Effusions of free Prayer Sir If you well consider and digest this your Eyes might soon open and discern between the Gift of Prayer and the Gift of Speech and that the Heart is the proper Seat of the one as the Tongue is of the other The confounding of these two different things hath confounded your Notious about it whereas the distinguishing between them would shew you the different Nature and Place of both And this is the more carefully to be distinguished and attended to because the want of it hath led many into great and dangerous Mistakes For he that can use most new Words and hath the best Faculty of changing and varying Phrases is by too many thought to pray best And the ordinary Gift of Prayer which you talk so much of and would have studied and practis'd by Ministers and People is nothing else than this Faculty of Variations which is rather a hindrance than furtherance of true Devotion And yet you seem to put the Life and Spirit of Prayer chiefly in it For you tell me That the same Words are apt to deaden and cloy and that all Men are delighted with Varieties and new things And to shew what a mighty Stress you lay upon such Novelties your Brethren are wont to ask whether he that sings still the same Song or is always telling the same Story would not make those that hear him to grow weary and sick of them Thence inferring that the daily and constant use of the same Prayers will have the same Effect upon the Minds of the People who are therefore to be entertain'd with new But is there no difference think you between these things Are not Songs and Stories things merely intended to gratifie the Senses and please the Fancy which is best taken with new things And are these to be compar'd with the sublime and weighty Matters of Religion which are design'd to affect the Heart and are still exercis'd about the same things The Diversions of humane Life best attain their end by Change and Variety but must we be given to change too in Matters of Religion and hunt about for new Words and Phrases when we address to God for the same things I hope you do not think that God Almighty is taken with new things since all the Pleasure of them is occasion'd chiefly from Suddenness and Surprize and therefore cannot affect him to whom nothing can be new And we find wise Men who are govern'd more by Judgment than Fancy are but little affected with such things So that 't is only