Selected quad for the lemma: spirit_n
Text snippets containing the quad
|
ID |
Title |
Author |
Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication) |
STC |
Words |
Pages |
|
A55565
|
Quadriga salutis, or, The four general heads of Christian religion surveyed and explained ... with some few annotations annexed at the latter end.
|
Powell, Thomas, 1608-1660.
|
1657
(1657)
|
Wing P3073; ESTC R13515
|
58,465
|
158
|
surpasseth all other prayers THe Lords Prayer is the Lady of all prayers Tertullian is of opinion that this prayer hath some kind of privilege in heaven above other prayers Haec oratio suo animatae privilegio ascendit in coelum c. and St. Cyprian who â—rod in his Master's steps for so he used to call Tertullian speaks much like his Master in this point God the Father saith he doth acknowledge his sons words and gives a readier ear and a more favourable audience if faith and devotion doth accompany it when requests are presented to him in his sons language Hooker doth hit upon the same string Though men saith he should speak with the tongues of Angels yet words so pleasing to the ears of God as those which the son of God himself hath compos'd are not possible for men to frame We need not doubt saith another of a gracious hearing since the Prince that must hear was the Orator that did pen our prayer and put words into our mouths This is stylus Curiae It is a petition made in the style and form of the Court even the Court of Requests in heaven and therefore is the more passable and current there This cherisheth much confidence and consolation in us saith Calvin that our requests contain nothing that is absurd or offensive to God qui pene ex ejus ore rogamus since we ask nothing but what he himself did dictate unto us and put into our mouths The prayer which John the Baptist prickt out for his Disciples intimated Luk. 11.1 is not now extant upon record It is probable that it soon grew obsolete and out of use when this came up As John himself gave place to Christ so did his prayer to Christ's prayer as the lesser lights use to vanish or grow dim at the presence of nobler Luminaries Sed quorsum perditio haec What needs this waste of words upon such a subject truly the aim is this that since others have decried this prayer so much not onely disusing but abusing it with some derogatory expressions it is a duty we ow to it and the Author of it to cry it up again to its just value and no farther And therefore I shall Super-pondii loco add to the former Elogies this of Dan Tilenus a learned Protestant of Germany Nulla praestantior formula reperiri potest â—ut excogitari quam quae à summê° illo preâ—candi magistro exauditionis mediatore Christo nobis est tradiâ—a nam sive sapientiam spectes ipsamet sapientia dictavit sive perfectionem omnia gâ—uera rerum expetendarum complectitur sive ordinem divina sanè est methodus artifictum APHOR. 5. Set forms of prayer needfull for some and lawfull for all THe truth of this Aphorism was little questioned in former ages the Lords Prayer and other Leiturgies may be read with feeling and understanding saith Mr. Ainsworth an eminent man in his generation A form of prayer being read doth not cease to be a prayer if the Spirit of prayer and supplication be not wâ—â—â—ing in the reader or hearer saith Mr. Perkins who taught England to preach as one saith of him and who alwaies did use one form of prayer before his Sermons Concerning the lawfullness of forms and book-prayers I make no doubt to concur with Bishop Hall in his Soliloquies saith Mr. Baxter a late writer of good note Some reject forms prescribed onely because they are prescribed they affect freedom and liberty so much that they would account their girdles and garters to be bonds and shackles if they were commanded to wear them Davids Psalms make no music in their ears their own Ditties are more harmonious because they are their own though they father them upon a better Author The Saints of old times did not think such prescribed lessons to be restraints upon the Spirit or a quenching of it For that Royal Composer David did give in writing the 105. Psalm to Asaph and his brethren to praise the Lord withall And 7. they did not quarrel at it for long after this King Hezekiah commanded the Levites to sing praise unto the Lord in the words of David and Asaph the Seer The 136. Psalm which begins O give thanks unto the Lord for he is gracious c. was wont to be sung upon several occasions as at going forth to war by Iehosaphat 2 Chro. 20.22 and at the laying the foundation of the new Temple by Zerubbabel Ezra 3.11 And the learned Iunius in his notes on that Psalm saith that this Ode Epainetic or song of praise was sung daily in the congregations as the moral part of the public service And it is vouched by good warrant that the Jews had set forms of praises and prayers in all ages and Buxtorf saith that the thirteen articles of the Jewish Creed was collected by R. Mâ—ses Ben Maimon out of the antient Jewish Liturgies A wise Prince gives thee counsel not to be rash with thy mouth or hasty to utter any thing before God But to be well advised what thou speakest to take heed of too much familiarity with thy Mâ—ker and to remember thy distance that he is in heaven and thou on earth he is a glorious God and thou art but dust and â—shâ—s It was a rash vow of Iephte the first thing that comes to meet me shall be the Lords Judg. 11.31 so if thou sayest the first words that come upon my tongue shall be the Lords they may prove rash and foolish and offensive even the Sacrifice of a fool Before thou prayest prepare thy self and be not as one that tempteth the Lord it is an Apocryphal Text but Canonical counsel Hodâ—è majorem licentiam illicitis suis cupiditatibus homines in precibus indulgent quam si pares cum paribus joco è fabularentur Calvin l. 3. Iâ—st cap. 20 5. APHOR. 6. Prayer in a language not understood unlawfull I Will pray with the Spirit and pray with the understanding also saith St. Paul I will sing with the Spirit and sing with the understanding also else how shall he that occupieth the room of the unlearned say Amen to thy giving of thanks seeing he understandeth not what thou sayest For thou verily givest thanks well but the other is not edified From which words it may be irrefrâ—gably concluded that the congregation must understand the prayers that are put up in the assâ—mbly else they cannot say Amen and they cannot be edified thereby And this may be also cleerly inferred thence that he that is the mouth of the Congregation or else prays in privat must understand himself what he prays else it is but the carcass of a prayer without soul or life in it oratio sine ratione for the heart cannot be affected with what it doth not understand and praying is a work rather of the heart than of the tongue no lip-labour Cardinal Cajetan upon this Text doth
and the bewailing of what we cannot do is all that the mercifull God requires at our hands in this point VII THe precepts of the first Table do contain the duty of man towards God being given to direct him in the service of his Maker and in performing both the internal (a) and external worship that is due unto him For he that made both soul and body expects the service of both and to be glorified in both (b) VIII THe precepts of the second Table do contain the duty of man towards his Neighbour obliging him to love him (a) as himself as his fellow-creature (b) hewn out of the same (c) rock made by the same hand and bearing the same stamp impress and superscription with him even the (d) image of him that made both the one and the other IX THe Commandements are but few in number and short in words but they contain much in a little For where any particular Virtue is commanded all Virtues of the same kind are under that name commanded And where any Vice is forbidden all Vices of that race and kind are forbidden likewise X. WHere any Virtue is commanded there the opposite Vice is forbidden and where any Vice is forbidden the opposite Virtue or duty is commanded by the Rule of Contraries As where stealing is forbidden there honest labour frugality and industry in our calling is imâ—plicitly commanded that men need not be forced to steal XI WHere any duty is commanded there all lawfull means conducing to that duty are cacitly commanded And where any vice is forbidden there all the means and occasions (a) as also the allurements and provocations that do any way tend or induce thereunto are likewise forbidden THE PRAYER MOst holy God who art glorious (a) in holiness and who wilt be sanctified (b) in all that come nigh unto thee Thou hast been graciously pleased to declare thy will unto us and to shew how thou wouldest be served and obeyed (c) and what thou (d) requirest of us while we dwell in Tabernacles of flesh Thou hast given us a holy and a perfect (e) Law to be the Rule of our obedience and the square of all our actions Lord open our eyes that we may see the wonderous (f) things of this Law see the fullness and purity and perfection of it Write it we pray thee in the Tables (g) of our Hearts that we may see it there and do it and assist us with thy good Spirit that we may embrace and follow every virtue that is there commanded and shun every vice that is forbidden and study to be doers of the word and not hearers onely deceiving our own souls (h) And though we are not able through our natural depravedness and corruption to perform thy Law and Commandments so exactly as we should yet O Lord our God we beseech thee to accept of our sincere indeavours who knowest our weaknesses and disabilities knowest what is in man and whereof he is made (i) and dost often accept of the will for the deed even so accept of our imperfect obedience for his sake who hath fullfilled all righteousness and accomplished thy will in all points even Jesus Christ our onely Mediator and Redeemer OF THE LORDS PRAYER I. THere is none in this World that is so full and self-sufficient but doth want somthing and must seek out of himself for a supply of that want Nature (a) dictates and suggests that prayer and supplication is an effectual means to obtain this supply And that humble address must be made to him that hath all and wants nothing (b) II. Though God be rich (a) in mercy towards all and knows all our wants better than our selves yet he expects to be asked before he gives (b) He requires us to acknowledge our (c) wants and weaknesses and to lift up a prayer in faith and then he will meet our desireâ— if they be just (d) and convenient III. MOst men are ignorant (a) in the duty of prayer and know not how to pray as they ought (b) or to pray according to Gods will (c) Therefore our Saviour Christ at the request of his Disciples did prick down a lesson for that purpose as St. John had done for his Disciples (d) He gave them a prayer which they might use without fear of offending by presenting unfit or unlawfull desires IV. THat form of words delivered by Christ in the sixt of Matthew and the eleventh of Luke is not onely a pattern to pray by but also a formal prayer and a full comprehensive one being an Inventary of all our wants and suiting with all persons times and occasions V. AS it is a prayer of it self so it is the law and line of all our prayers The Rule and Directory for composing of all prayers that suit with mens particular occasions And the standard whereby â—hose prayers are to be examined whether they be made according to the pattern shewed in the Mount * VI THe Lords prayer must in all reason be esteemed above the best of hâ—mane compositions 1. By reason of the excellency of the Author who was the Wisdom (a) of his Father and in whom were hid all the treasures (b) of wisdom and knowledge and unto whom the Spirit was not given by measure (c) 2. For the acceptableness thereof with God for when we supplicate the Father not onely in his sons name (d) but also in his sons words we may with good reason suppose that our requests will be the sooner heard and return with better success VII YEt neither the eminency of the composer nor the art of the composition do recommend a prayer so much as true saith (a) and fervent affection (b) as also humility (c) and due reverence (d) which are necessary dispositions and qualifications in any person that shall send up this prayer or any other VIII A â—â—ayer composed by another whither read or repeated by heart is as usefull and prevalent as any made by our selves if devotion be in the heart And the same prayer may be often used as (a) Christ did if the same grace be still wanting God is not delighted with varying of phrases or suits of several dresses IX IN the Lords Prayer we are taught to say our Father In the Creed to say I believe c. To instruct us that every man must believe for himself being to be saved by his own (a) saith But we must pray for others (b) as well as our selves for as charity begins at home but doth not end there so doth prayer though it hath one foot in the center of a man's self the other foot doth fetch a compass about the World X. THe Lords Prayer doth consist of six Petitions equally divided between God and man Whereof