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
A52043	Meroz cursed, or, A sermon preached to the honourable House of Commons, at their late solemn fast, Febr. 23, 1641 by Stephen Marshall ...	Marshall, Stephen, 1594?-1655.	1641 (1641)	Wing M762; ESTC R19516	35,043	59

toward you but you must performe your good work towards me Then shall ye call upon me and you shall goe and pray unto me Aske and you shall receive this is the confidence that we have that whatsoever we aske according to his will we know that we have the petitions that we desire of him What cannot Prayer doe It is able to overthrow all enemies When I pray mine enemies shall turn back An hundred eighty five thousand were overthrowne in one night after the Prayer of Hezekiah It is able to turne away all plagues pestilence famine sword wild-beasts whatsoever plague or sicknesse there be prayer and supplication will heal all It is able to bring downe all mercies it is the key of heaven Eliah a man subject to the same infirmities with us hee prayed and the heaven was shut he prayed again and the heaven was opened It is the most efficacious engine in the world it opened the prison doores and the iron gate to set Peter at liberty It is the summe of all wisdome strength and policy What should I say more It prevailes over God himselfe Iacob wrastled with God and prevailed What was his wrastling What was the strength whereby as a Prince he had power with God Even this hee wept and made supplication to him It will not only stop the Sun in his course as Ioshua did Sun stand thou still in Gibeon and thou Moon in the valley of Ajalon but with reverence be it spoken it holds that hand which rules heaven and earth Let mee alone said God to Moses that I may destroy them Moses prayer hindred God from doing what hee seemed resolved to doe Hee said hee would have destroyed them had not Moses his chosen stood before him in the gap to turn away his wrathfull indignation And thus some interpret that place of the Prophet Isaiah Ask mee of things to come concerning my Sonnes and as concerning the works of my hands command ye me as if God had made over his own omnipotency to Prayer But whence is it that Prayer becomes thus efficacious What is there in the submissions and supplications of poor worms to work such wonders I answer These four things meet in prayer which are the strength of it and may be your satisfaction First The persons who pray are Gods owne children dearer to him than heaven and earth tender as the apple of his own eye and we who are parents know how prevalent the cryes of our own children are we being evill can give good things to our children Secondly Gods owne Spirit dictates and endites their prayers for them Wee know not what to pray for as wee ought but the Spirit it selfe makes intercession for us Now as it is said of the Sonne I know thou hearest me alwayes so may it be said of the Spirit What regard soever he may bear to us poore sinners he will certainly regard the intercessions of his owne Spirit Thirdly The Prayers of Gods people they are offered up and presented to God by his owne Son our Lord Jesus Christ the high Priest of our profession the Angel of his presence who is at the right hand of God who daily makes intercession for us as the Spirit makes intercession in us and mingles his incense with the prayers of the Saints upon the golden altar which is before the throne Fourthly There is this in prayer that it gives the greatest glory unto God Of all gifts or graces which God hath given to any creature never any thing except faith only was found to give that glory to God which prayer doth especially in these two things First it brings God into the field to fight the battell for them makes him to work all their works for them as indeed he doth Whatsoever a man prayes for he doth by interpretation say Lord I never shall have this unlesse thou give it me I never shall do this unlesse thou doe it for me And that is the reason why in 2 Chron. 20. after Hezekiah and his people had prayed and professed they had no strength of their owne left the worke only and wholly upon Gods hand Then God tells them The battell is not yours but Gods Now you have put it into my hands you shall see what I will doe for you And secondly When the work is done it ascribes the praise and glory of all to him to whom alone it is due If we mark it God hath little glory in the world for those good things which men receive without Prayer their friends parts wit industry must share with God but what is won by Prayer is worn with thankfulnesse there being a naturall relation betwixt praying and praising as the rivers returne by the sea from whence they come O that I were able to teach you the right use of this engine And first let mee speake to you right Honourable and Beloved the Lords and Commons assembled in this Parliament Give mee leave to shew you the true spring of all that good which hath come through your hands since your happy entrance upon your great work God knows I would not eclipse your worth nor due praise We rejoyce in you and blesse God for you wee have received great mercies by your means but are you the cause of them Have they been done by your wisdome and forecast or for any worthinesse found in your selves Hath not God done them all almost by contraries Have not you been many times at a losse even at your wits end Hath not God marvellously discovered wicked enterprises against you and almost miraculously preserved you by his own naked arme ever since the beginning of your meeting Give therefore the glory where it is due you shall have the honour of excellent instruments but this honour is too high for you Know therefore Beloved and it will encrease your honour to acknowledge it that Prayer and God by Prayer hath done all this While you have been with Ioshuah fighting in the valley Moses Aaron and Hur have been at prayer upon the mountain God hath poured out upon many parts of the Kingdome but more especially in and about this great City a most fervent Spirit of Prayer In many thousand families you are every day mentioned at the throne of grace few dayes of your Sessions have passed over without extraordinary fasting and prayer either publike or private on your behalfe And when prayer doth thus ascend mercies must needs descend Let God therfore have the chiefe honour for pouring out the spirit of prayer and supplication the fruit whereof is the upholding your hearts and spirits daily in your work And this also intimates the best hope wee have of your good successe for the time to come even because God hath put it into the heart of the Kings Majesty and your selves to put the whole kingdome into a posture of prayer we hope your care in putting the Kingdome into a posture of

defence will be serviceable but wee expect our greatest help and advantage as from our daily prayers so more especially from those solemn monthly dayes of humiliation that are afforded and appointed us William the Conquerour when he was Duke of Normandy according to the superstition of those times builded many Abbies Monasteries and Nunneries and told his friends he was at this cost to strengthen his Kingdome esteeming them as strong fortifications wherein he provided many to fight against the devill the world and the flesh this he said according to his light I can more truly speak from God that in every congregation where godly Ministers and godly people shall according to publick direction ly in the dust fasting and mourning and praying before the Lord there are strong holds set up for the safety of the Kingdome Secondly how sadly doth this speak against many thousands of professed Christians some cannot pray some will not pray sure I am many doe not pray who in all this long time of Germanies afflictions have never separated themselves to afford one dayes prayer for the help of their brethren and in all our owne exigents and darknesses have never stood upon the walls to help either England Scotland Ireland King or Parliament these are a miserable generation And this their not praying for the Church is a sad token against them that when the Church of Christ shall sing for joy of heart themselves shall cry for sorrow of heart and howle for vexation of spirit What remaineth then but that all you who make mention of the Lord and bear his Name who have received this mercy that you may have accesse to the throne of grace be quickned up for the time to come to stand upon the walls to give God no rest night nor day to let Ierusalem come into your mind constantly to do that which Master Bradford made the subscription of his letters pray pray pray God hath done great things for us but many great things are yet to bee done much rubbish to be removed many obstructions to bee cleared many enimies to be overthrown Ireland is to be relieved Religion to bee established Prayer may doe all this wee may overmatch all our enimies by prayer discover all their plots by prayer Let us not bee traitors against the Church and State in slighting or forbearing the use of that which may work all our works for us this is to betray the forts of the Kingdome But remember when I exhort you to pray I mean First it must be prayer indeed many can read prayers say prayers sing prayers many can conceive or utter prayers who yet cannot pray Prayer is a pouring out of the soul to God And secondly this spirit poured out in prayer must bee a pure spirit If I regard iniquity in my heart the Lord will not hear my prayer And thirdly this prayer must bee a prayer of faith Pray in faith and waver not And in a prayer of faith three things must meet First That the things begg'd bee according to the will of God Secondly That they bee begg'd in the name of Christ Thirdly that we rely upon the faithfulnesse of God for the performance of them This is to pray in faith Fourthly Our prayers must bee fervent humble constant and when we have prayed wee must remember that though prayer be the great means yet prayer is not all the means Prayer must quicken us up to the use of other means and sanctifie us in the use of other means other means are fruitlesse without prayer and prayer not seconded with the use of o●her means where they may be had prevailes not These things you cannot bee ignorant of and therefore I only point at them especially in these streights of time One thing more I must needs advise about before I passe from this great help of prayer And that is in what esteem praying spirits should bee had amongst all wise men I know the world slights and scornes them but in truth they are the very Chariots and Horsemen of Israel Ten praying men might have saved Sodom and the Cities round about Solomon saith There was a little City and few men it and a poore wise man by his wisdome delivered this City from the siege of a great King Yet no man remembred that same poore man Truly thus it is with poore praying Christians they deliver the Iland and yet no man regards them David knew how to prize such spirits who though hee were a King thought them fit to bee his companions who cal'd upon the name of God Paul knew how to prize them who begged for prayers as a prisoner for a ransome Now I beseech you brethren for the Lord Iesus Christs sake that you pray for me Yea Ioash though an Idolater when the praying Prophet Elisha lay a dying wept and cryed as sensible of loosing the chiefe support of his Kingdome O my father my father the Chariots of Israel and the horsemen thereof Nay which is yet more a heathen Emperour Marcus Aurelius finding by experience the power of the prayers of Christians gave all the world notice of it staid the persecution against the Christians and call'd that band of Christians Legio fulminatrix the thundring band Let us therefore not fall short of heathens let us not undervalue or slight them who carry the Keyes of heaven at their girdle Verily Right honourable and beloved if you knew what blessings they are in the midst of the land you would take pleasure in them you would seek for praying friends praying servants praying tenants you would desire to have a stock goe in every one of their vessels You would say to them all as they to their companions going up to the house of God To pray before the Lord and to seek the Lord of hostes I will go also Yea you would lay hold upon the skirt of these men saying we will goe with you for we have heard that God is with you This is the greatest help which we can give to the Church of Christ This wee doe immediately to God for the Church There are some things also which we must doe for the Church from God The particulars are innumerable but in regard the time is wholly spent I shall give you the summe of all in one short conclusion And indeed a little time may make it cleare to your understandings although the practise of it require the study of your whole lives The conclusion is this Whatsoever abilities any have received in any kind they are given to them to this very end to be serviceable and usefull to the Church of Christ with them All the manifestations of the spirit in gifts and graces are chiefly given for this end to profit the Church with all the livelyhood of our naturall faculties of our actions of our wordly wealth of office or authority are given us not for our own carnall ends no nor primarily for our own