Selected quad for the lemma: truth_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
truth_n	call_v	gospel_n	word_n	4,095	5	4.5531	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A09410	An exposition of the Lords praier in the way of catechisme By William Perkins; Perkins upon the Lords praier	Perkins, William, 1558-1602.	1593 (1593)	STC 19701; ESTC S113660	46,459	156

to the obedience of the same Againe praier is the key whereby wee open the treasures of God and pull downe his mercies vpon vs. For as the preaching of the word serues to declare and to conuey vnto vs Gods graces so in praier we come to haue a liue lie feeling of the same in our harts And further this must moue vs to praier seeing in praier we haue familiaritie with Gods Maiestie It is an high fauour for a man to bee familiar with a Prince howe much more then to be familiar with the King of Kings the mightie Iehouah This then can bee no burthen or trouble vnto vs being one of the many prerogatiues that God bestowes on his Church For in the preaching of the worde it pleaseth God to talke to vs and in praier God doth vouchsafe vs this honour to speake and as it were familiarly to talk with him not as to a fearful Iudge but as to a louing and mercifull God Consider also that praier is a worthie means of defence not onely to vs but also to the Church and them that are absent By it Moses stood in the breache which Gods wrath had made into the pepill of Israell and staied the same Psalm 106. ver 23 by this Christian men fight as valiant champions against their own corruptions and all other spirituall enemies Ephes. 6. vers 18. Infinite were it to shewe howe many blessings the Lord hath bestowed on his seruaunts by prayer In a worde Luther whome it pleased God to vse as a worthie instrumēt for the restoring of the Gospell testifieth of himselfe that hauing this grace giuen him to call vpon the name of the lord he had more reuealed vnto him of Gods trueth by praier then by reding study The second point of the cōmandement is to pray after the maner following in the Lordes prayer Where it is to bee noted that the Lords prayer is a direction and as it were a sampler to teach vs how and in what maner wee ought to praie None is to imagine that we are bound to vse these words only and none other For the meaning of Christ is not to binde vs to the words but to the matter and maner and to the like affections in praying If this were not so the praiers of Gods seruants set down in the bookes of the old and newe Testament should be al faultie because they ar not according to the wordes of the Lords praier Also by reason of this diuers in our church ignorantly perswade them selues that it is vnlawfull to vse the wordes as they are set downe for a praier First say they it is Scripture and therefore not to be vsed as a prayer I answer that the same thing may be the scripture of god and also the praier of man else the praiers of Moses Dauid and Paul being set downe in the scriptures cease to be praiers Againe they say that in praier we are to expres our wantes in particular and the graces which wee desire nowe in these wordes all things to be praied for are onely in generall propounded I answer that the maine wants that are in any man and the principall graces of God to be destred are set downe in the petitions of this praier in particular Thirdly they pleade that the pattern to make al praiers by should not be vsed as a praier I answere that therefore the rather it may be vsed a● a praier and sure it is th●● ancient and worthie diuines haue reuerēced it as a praier chosing rather to vse these words then any other as Cyprianus sermone de orat Dominic And Tertullian lib. de fuga in persequutione And Augustine sermone 126. de tēpore Wherfore the opinion is ful of ignorāce error Well whereas our Sauiour first giues a commaundement to pray and then after giueth a direction for the keeping of it this he doeth to stiree vp our dulnes and to allure vs by all meanes to this heauenly exercise of praier Wherfore still I say imploy your selues in praier feruently and continually and if you cannot do it learne to praye Thus much of the commandement of our Sauior Christ nowe followe the wordes of the praier Our Father which art c. THese wordes containe three parts 1. a preface 2. the praier it self containing six petitions 3. the testification of faith in the last worde Amen Which although it be short yet it doth not containe the smallest point in the praier It is I say a testification of our faith whereas the petitions that go before are only testifications of our desires Nowe of these three parts in order We must consider how our Sauiour Christ doth not set downe the petitions abruptly but he first beginnes with a solemne preface Whereby we are taught this lessō that he which is to pray vnto God is first to prepare himselfe and not boldly without consideration as it were to rushe into the presence of God If a mā be to come before an earthly Prince hee will order himselfe in apparel gesture and words that he may do all thinges in seemelines dutiful reuerence how much more are men to order themselues when they are to appear before the liuing God Eccle. 5. 1. Be not rash with thy mouth let not thine hart be hastie to vtter a thing before the Lord. And Dauid Psal. 26. 6. Washed his hands in innocencie before he came to the Altar of the Lord to offer sacrifice The meanes whereby men may stir vp their dul and heauie hea●● and so prepare themselues to praier are three The first is to read diligently the word of God concerning those matters about which they are to pray and what then this will be a meanes not onely to direct him but also to quicken the heart more feruently to deliuer his praier This is euident by a cōparison The beames of the sunne descending heat not before they come to the earth or some solide body where they may reflect and then by that means the earth and aire adjoyning is made very hote euen so the Lord sends downe vnto vs his blessed Worde euen as beames and the goodly sunshine thereby he speaks to our harts now when we make our praiers of that which we haue reade Gods worde is as it were reflected and our heartes are thereby warned with the cōfortable heat of Gods holy spirit to powre out our praiers to God more feruently The second meanes is to pray to God that hee would strengthen vs with his spirit that we might be able to pray as it is practised Psalme 143. 1. The third meanes is the consideration of Gods most glorious maiestie wherin we are to remember first his fatherly goodnes and kindenes whereby he is willing secondly his omnipotencie where by he is able to grant our requests One of these emboldned the Lepar to pray Lord if thou wilt thou canst make me cleane Mat. 8. 2. Therfore both together are more effectuall Nowe let vs come to the