Selected quad for the lemma: spirit_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
spirit_n	worship_v	worshipper_n	wrath_n	31	3	7.6032	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A68718	A key of heaven the Lords Prayer opened, and so applied, that a Christian may learne how to pray, and to procure all things which may make for the glorie of God, and the good of himselfe, and of his neighbour : containing likewise such doctrines of faith and godlines, as may be very usefull to all that desire to live godly in Christ Iesus.	Scudder, Henry, d. 1659?; Sibbes, Richard, 1577-1635.	1633 (1633)	STC 22122; ESTC S1717	241,855	822

humblenesse and submission of minde or griefe and contrition of heart for sinne or fervency or joy hope and confidence in God or the like The knees are bowed and the body prostrate to shew humble submission a sad countenance and teares serve to shew contrition lifting up eyes and hands expresse the lifting up the heart to God in the heavens in hope and confidence of a gracious hearing Salomon stretched out his hands to expresse his earnestnesse and fervency and the publican smote his breast and would not looke up to heaven that hee might signifie his sorrow and the sense of his unworthinesse In publique prayers a man must use such gestures as are prescribed by lawfull authority or if none bee prescribed such as are in common use in the particular Church in which hee doth live they being free from superstition The not observing this rule is the mother and nurse of much variance and sometimes of schismes in the Church of God In private prayer alone every man may use such gestures as his heart doth prompt unto him provided alwayes that they bee decent and beseeming the holy presence of God and the holy action in hand such as may stirre up and continue right affections in him and may also serve to expresse the right disposition of his heart when he prayeth If a man sit giving of thanks at his meat or at other times when hee prayeth being disabled that hee cannot kneele or stand up then for that sitting is not a gesture of reverence it is convenient that with i● hee expresse reverence and devotion in some other gesture or meanes such as is in use and may bee joyned with sitting I will end the answer to this case about gesture in prayer with these cautions That no man please himselfe in his greatest bodily devotion Cautions concerning● gestures in prayer when it is severed from inward truth and devotion of the heart as if God were well pleased with it for that is grosse hypocrisie When a man is disabled that hee cannot kneele or lift up his hands or performe other acts of holy reverence in prayer this must not discourage him nor yet breed a scruple in him whether hee may pray or whether his prayer shall be accepted for as I said gestures are not of the essence of prayer and it is truth in the inward parts which God loveth and accepteth And when a gesture cannot bee used but with paine to the body or to the endangering of health or distraction of the minde in prayer God requireth it not for gestures are then to be used when they do further Mat. 12.7 and not hinder the heart and spirit in Gods service And in this case God preferreth mercy before sacrifice The case touching the place of prayer Fiftly the consideration of Gods heavenly majesty and specialty of glorious residence in heaven doth teach us that prayer may bee made to God in all places all places here below are alike distant from heaven and God can heare as well in one place as in another Wherefore our Saviour breaking downe the partition wall which stood betweene Iew and Gentile saith Iohn 4.21.23 Neither in Ierusalem nor in that Mount as if they should bee more holy places than other should men worship the Father but the houre cometh and now is that the true worshippers should namely in all places worship him in spirit and in truth According to that of the Apostle I will that men pray every where 1 Tim. 2.8 lifting up pure hands without wrath or doubting But is not the Church a better place to pray in Quest and is not God more present there than elsewere and are not private prayers which are made there more acceptable to God than if they were made in other places I answere Answ Papists and popishly affected say so but without good ground But to resolve this case difference must be put between publique prayers and private In the time of the Gospell in the primitive Church while it was under cruell persecution any place agreed upon by the Ministers and people to assemble in for Gods publique worship was a publique place though it were a chamber in a private mans house for for a long time Christians had no other Churches Tertul. Apol cap 39. but common houses But when the Church was at peace houses were built of purpose and dedicated to God for his publique worship which therefore both in borrowed and in proper speech were well called Temples houses of God or Churches Places publique or private are in themselves alike holy and alike fit for prayer respectively namely the publique place for publique and the private place for private prayer For since the death of Christ all religious difference of place is taken away And Gods presence is not tied to one place more than to another Yet because Churches are set apart for Gods service in that respect they are to bee had in speciall esteeme and reverence so as to be wel and sufficiently maintained and repaired and kept comely with all such outward beautie and ornaments as are beseeming the pure worship of God Also they are to be resorted unto by all sorts diligently at times appointed for the publicke worship of God where all are to behave themselves reverently before the Lord And out of the case of necessitie these Churches are to bee imployed onely for religious uses Touching esteeme of Churches a meane must be kept betweene two extreames wee must not prophane them with Atheists nor yet superstitiously idolize them with the Papists When men are not necessarily hindered Churches are to be frequented where publicke prayers may be best made and are like to bee best heard not because the place it selfe hath more holinesse than any other but because God hath in special sort placed his name in those his holy ordinances which there are performed and is there present Mat. 18.20 according to his promise in speciall sort all the while that the congregation and people of God with whom we joyne in the Church are in the act of performance thereof The Apostle had the Church in such esteeme that from the holinesse thereof he endeavoureth to convince the Corinthians of the greater sinne 1. Cor. 11.22 saying Despise ye the Church of God but by Church he meaneth not the place of assembling but the congregation assembled Also it is better to pray in the assembly of the Church because there we have the helpe of the Minister and the examples of others devotions besides that there is an uniting of the desires of many unto God who delighteth in the joynt prayer of many in such assemblies As for private prayer private places not the publicke are fittest for them Therefore our Saviour warned his disciples that they should not like the Pharises make their private prayers in publicke places Mat 6.5.6 as in the Synagogues or corners of the streets but in private as in the closet c. If

most apt to enkindle the desires and helpe the faith of them that do pray If many and generall requests be to be put up then such titles and names must bee used that may perswade them they shall be heard in all If some particular petition be to be pressed then such names and descriptions of God are to be used as may helpe the heart in that particular Abrahams servant being to pray for successe in his masters businesse saith Ge● 24 12. O Iehovah God of my master Abraham I pray thee send me good speed this day and shew kindnesse unto my m●●t●er Abraham When Peter did intricate God to make choice of an Apostle to supply the place of Iudas hee saith Thou Lord Act. 1.24 which knowest the hearts of all men shew whether of these two thou hast chosen When David prayeth against the enemies of God and his children hee saith O Lord God to whom vengeance belongeth Psal 94.1 O God to whom vengeance belongeth shew thy selfe And when hee doth magnifie Gods name and would incire all people to pray unto him and praise him he speaketh to him in this description of God O thou that hearest prayer Psal 65.2 unto thee shall all flesh come For a wise choice of apt names Reason 1 titles to represent God with doth argue knowledge of God and wisedome to make use of his different attributes both which knowledge wisdome being mixed with faith doth much please and delight God to behold in his children The representing of God to Reason 2 the minde in convenient and meet names and notions is verie needfull for it will set the heart and keepe it in good plight working aw and reverence fervencie uprightnesse and confidence all which are requisite in prayer Vse It behoveth therefore every one that would make a good entrance into prayer without which he is not like to make a good proceeding to acquaint himselfe with the true understanding of the manifold names and descriptions of God recorded in Scripture and then let them make choice of the fittest titles of God to name him by according as there shal be especiall cause or use of his power wisedome mercie truth or justice c. Then to use such names as may best expresse those attributes which are especially to bee exercised in the granting of their requests Thus much of the whole description of God being cōsidered joyntly now followeth the consideration of each part of the description Father hath relation first to Christ the second person in Trinity whereby our Saviour directeth us unto a consideration of the three persons in Trinity and to the order of directing of prayers ordinarily viz. to the Father whence the doctrine is In prayer God is to be known Doct. 5 and conceived of in the distinction of persons Father Sonne and holy Ghost to whom prayer must be directed ordinarily in this sort scil to the Father by the Sonne through the helpe of the holy Ghost Christ saith Ioh. 16.23 Whatsoever ye shall aske my Father in my Name he will give it you The Apostle giveth thanks to God and the Father in the name of our Lord Iesus Christ Ephe. 5.20 We call God Abba Father by the Spirit which maketh our intercessions for us Rom. 8.15.27 For such is the divine dispensation of God the Father Reason Son and holy Ghost that though they are but one indivisible essence and whatsoever any one doth out of himselfe the very same doth the other also Ad extra yet they sustaine different persons and offices that I may so speake and do the same things in a different and distinct order yet so as the naming of one doth not exclude but necessarily include the other In prayer the Father sustaineth the person and place of him that is offended by sinne that must be appeased and doth heare and grant requests If we sinne we have an Advocate with the Father Which sheweth plainly that the Father in especiall sort must be appeased and sought unto The Sonne supplieth the place of a Mediator and intercessour by whom requests ascend and become acceptable to the Father He is that golden altar Ioh. 16.23 upon which the prayers of all Saints are offered and caused to ascend as incense Revel 8.3 No man can come to the Father but by him Ioh. 1● 6 He is appointed of God to be a Mediatour and being God and man is both a fit and all-sufficient Mediator between God and man Without him no mans person or best actions can be acceptable because of the many imperfections Wherefore all prayers must be offered up by Christ Iesus The holy Ghost doth supply the office of a teacher and of one that helpeth our infirmities and in us Rom. 8.26 to make our intercessions and requests for us that they may be offered to the Father by the intercession of the Sonne For we know not what we should pray for as we ought and if the Spirit do not worke together in our prayers there would be no goodnesse at all in them no not so much as truth and uprightnesse without which Christ Iesus will not offer them to his Father for us Therefore prayers must bee made in the Spirit through the helpe of the Spirit Now because of this order of persons in the Deitie the Father being first and because of the different places they sustaine in the worke of our salvation the counsell and will of all three is that the Father should be prayed unto and worshipped in the onely mediation of the Sonne through the Spirit and therefore it is that the Father is here named not the Sonne or holy Ghost But because of the indivisible essence of the Godhead the naming of the Father doth necessarily imply the calling upon both Sonne and holy Ghost also If God must be known and Vse 1 worshipped in the distinction of the persons in Trinitie then it is impossible to represent God by any image as the Papists do For by what visible likenesse can an invisible Spirit which is truly not imaginarily distinguished into three persons and different manner of subsisting be likened or resembled The Papists that come to Vse 2 God by the mediatiō of Christ but in part joyning to Christ the mediation of Saints are hereby confuted For there is no Mediatour but that one person by whom God is our Father They come a distinction saying Christ is onely Mediatour of redemption but not the onely Mediatour of intercession that so they might leave a roome in which they might place the mediation of Saints but this is to sever what God hath joyned For the Scripture knoweth no Advocate or Intercessour but him who is the Redeemer 1. Ioh. 2.12 scil Christ Iesus the righteous who is the propitiation for our sinnes And it is as proper to the Mediatourship that Christ onely should make intercession at the right hand of God as to die and rise againe for the elect Rom. 8.34

Ob. If they say we pray to living men to make praiers and intercessions for us why not rather to the Saints departed who are more perfect Sol. I answer when we desire the living to pray for us we do not give any religious honour unto the living but they do properly give religious worship in praying to the dead which honour is due to God onely Besides the living know what we need the dead do not and in using the living we do not make them mediatours betweene the Father and us that he should helpe us for their worth and merit thus Christ onely is Mediatour but we onely request them to intreat the Father for Christs sake to helpe us Lastly Iam. 5.14 the Scripture doth warrant men to request the prayers of the living and doth acknowledge onely one Mediatour betweene God and man even there where it requireth that living Saints should make prayers and intercessions for all sorts of men 1. Tim. 2.1.5 All which think they know Vse 3 God but yet are altogether ignorant of the distinction of the persons must hereby know that they do not yet know God distinctly and if they worship God without any consideration of Christ by whom and of the holy Ghost through whose helpe they pray in the spirit if they do not expresse or imply thus much in prayer they do notwithstanding they professe the true God turne him into an Idol For in all true worship the unity is worshipped in Trinitie and Trinitie in unity without dividing the Godhead or confounding the Persons Vse 4 Every one that would worship God aright must therfore first learne to know him to be one only true God distinguished into the Father Sonne and holy Ghost but herein much warinesse and sobriety must be observed that none seeke into this mysterie of mysteries to understand above that which is meete namely above that which the Scripture hath revealed it being an object of faith to bee beleeved and not possible by reason to bee fully comprehended In conceiving of the distinction of persons take heed of two extremities first we must not conceive that there is an essentiall difference betweene them as if all the three had not one and the same nature Secondly we must not imagine that there is onely a rationall or imaginarie distinction whereas their different order and manner of subsisting and different manner of working declareth that there is a reall or true difference betweene them So that the Father as Father is in no respect the Sonne and the Sonne as Sonne is in no respect the holy Ghost and the holy Ghost as holy Ghost is in no respect either the Father or the Sonne When God is thus conceived of and knowne aright then in the same order as he doth subsist he must ordinarily be worshipped according to the direction of our Saviour in this patterne Stephens directing of his prayer to Christ was upon the beholding of Christ Iesus standing at the right hand of God Act. 7 ●● it being a speciall and extraordinary occasion This argueth that it is not unlawfull to direct prayer to the second Person or third Person upon especiall cause but yet ordinarily this rule and order in worshipping GOD must be observed First we must direct prayer unto the Father of lights the giver of every good and perfect gift Secondly we must offer up praier and praise by Christ Iesus who offereth up incense with the prayers of all Saints Rev. 8.3 by whom wee have accesse to the throne of grace Heb. 4.15.16 to finde grace and helpe in time of need Thirdly wee must use all meanes to obtaine the holy Spirit of grace and supplications We must pray for it and heare the Gospell which is the ministerie of the Spirit preached Then we must cherish stirre up the good motions thereof taking heed that wee doe not grieve it or quench it by any evill conversation Let us get an holy acquaintance with it that it may make heartie requests for us For prayers cannot be sweet incense if they be not mingled and anointed with holy oyle which is the anointing of the Spirit which as it teacheth all things 1 Ioh 2.27 as Iohn speaketh so especially it must teach us to pray aright Wherefore whensoever you pray enter into consultation with the inward man what you should aske and how consult with the word denie carnall reason and presumption of your owne abilities in prayer then shall the Spirit make your requests for you which by you must be seconded and 〈…〉 and truth put up to the Father by Christ Whosoever shall in this manner direct his praier to the Father by the Sonne through the Spirit albeit I cannot promise him that his heart shall be so inlarged that he shall satisfie himselfe in prayer yet I can assure him he shall alwaies be able to offer up such sighes and desires as shall please God and prevaile more with him then shall the praiers of others who without the spirit of prayer by the meere helpe of nature art can command both words and varietie of matter at their pleasure Vse 5 This directing of prayers unto the Father in the name of the Sonne through the holy Ghost may remove the greatest discouragements that any Christian can meet with when he goeth about to pray It is not majestie nor infinite justice in God nor greatnesse or multitude of sinnes in man nor any unworthinesse of his person nor yet his insufficiencie to thinke a good thought nor yet the feeling of himselfe that many times hee knoweth not either what or how to pray can dishearten him if hee doe but consider that hee prayeth to God who is God the Father Sonne and holy Ghost and that he may pray in this order namely hee prayes to the Father of Christ who is his Father he prayes in the name of Jesus Christ who hath satisfied his Father for all his sinnes and daily doth make intercession for him and hee praieth in the Spirit who helpeth his infirmities and maketh requests for him though it bee sometimes but with sighes and groanes which are not distinctly uttered Rom. 8.26 By this meanes there is life and spirit in our prayers and God doth and will accept them for he knoweth the meaning of his Spirit and will accept the worke of his Spirit in us through Christ though wee bewray our many imperfections Father in the second place hath through Christ relation to all the members of Christ who are here willed to say Our Father whence note Doct. 6 All true Christians have the Lord of heaven and earth to their Father J ascend to my Father and your Father saith Christ Ioh. 20.17 I will be a Father unto you and ye shall be my sonnes and daughters saith the Lord Almighty 2 Cor. 6.18 Reason 1 They have received the adoption of sonnes Gal. 4.5 and are all the children of God by faith in Christ Iesus Gal. 3.26 Reason 2 They are all