Linguistic DNA - Concept Modelling Demonstrator

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
truth_n	know_v	spirit_n	worship_v	6,337	5	9.5072	5	true

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A39360	Letters to Mr. Hughes of Plymouth, and Mr. Ford of Exeter, concerning the common prayer from Edm. Elis.	Elys, Edmund, ca. 1634-ca. 1707.; Ford, Thomas, 1598-1674.; Hughes, Thomas, 1603-1667.	1660 (1660)	Wing E680; ESTC R25045	10,521	26

from you I have written what you see neither do I choose as you provoke me to be an Obiector but in generall I desire rather to be a Quaestionist and aske of you satisfaction to some Questions or cases about Prayer which may let you see some difficulties in your particular instance Take them thus Qu. 1. Whether the Scripture inspired by God be the only rule for Prayer as for Faith which must frame it Qu. 2. Whether in this Scripture doth appeare any precept imposing a set forme of prayer upon the Church or any practice in the Church of Christ answering such a precept Qu. 3. Whether in case the Law of God doth not impose any forme of prayer even the best upon the Church it be in the power of men to do it Qu. 4. Whether the Booke mentioned in your Letter be not so imposed by men without precept or example from God Sir in all these is not queried what may be the lawfulnesse or usefulnesse of set formes of Payer among some nor how far prudentiall good and lawfull forms may be commended but whether it be lawfull for men to impose any such formes upon Consciences that those and none but those must be used in the Church by any who are able to make use of the Scripture Directory in all cases of their addresse to God Unto these your clear answer is desired if you please before we come to a congresse about particulars wherein if you deale rationally and ingenuously I may afford a further Reply but otherwise my worke is too much for my time and I shall not spend hours vainly in such writing-contests I shall give you no worse Farewell than I had from you commending to you the Book of books from which your excellent Book hath all that is good in it Make the Scripture your rule of your Faith and Prayer and Obedience I am Sir Plim Aug. 23. 1660. Yours to serve you in the Lord GEO. HVGHES To Mr. HVGHES SIR I Thanke you for your Letter but must crave your pardon for not answering your Quaeries being impertinent to my Designe in writing to you which is To know whether or no you have any thing to object against this Position That a man may worship GOD in Spirit and in Truth in the Use of that form of Prayer for Morning and Evening which we call the Common Prayer simply considered without respect to it's being imposed c. I conceive you might easily have apprehended this to have been my Aime by the expressions of my other Letters As for the Forms for the Buriall of the Dead Baptisme c. Though I do not except against them yet because there are many expressions in them from which such Controversies may easily arise as a Spirituall Man cannot well discusse without losse of Time I shall not undertake to vindicate them unlesse provok't to it by any that professe that they are scandall'd at my using of them I have heard many men speak much against the use of the Letany if you have any thing to say against it I shall entreat you to insist on that in a particular manner For as yet I cannot apprehend any thing that can be objected against it but what may easily be resolv'd into a Phanaticke humour And I would faine know where the strength of that Opposition lies that may be made against that which I conceive may be of so great use to the Church of God As for that I said I might give you some occasion to conceive some spirituall Notions concerning Prayer c. I shall maintain the expression If your Opinion be That a man cannot pray in Faith using that form we speak of I doubt not but if I shall be able to discover to you the workings of mine own spirit mov'd by God in the use of that Forme I shall be able to do that I said I had no small confidence that I should Good Sir deal with me as 't is fit for one Christian to deale with another and avoid as much as you can all such expressions as may probably be made Instrumentall by the DEVIL to worke in me that sinfull Anger to which J am naturally inclin'd upon such Occasions as in Writing-Contests to use your own words men are apt to give one to the other But blessed be God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ with his Sons Blood J am able to Quench the Fire of that and all other Lusts as soon as J perceive it to be Kindled in me Jf you say in your heart at the Reading of this Let him that standeth take heed lest he fall I shall entreat you to pray for me that J may take heed As for my Adjuring of you J take the matter to be of so high Concernment that J did well in so doing You say reflecting upon some expressions of mine For saving Truth I trust I have received what the Gospell revealeth God forbid that J should be so Uncharitable as not to hope that you have received all the Principall Truths that concern Eternall Life but there may be some Subordinate Truths that I may so speak the Apprehension of which might make the Knowledge of the other more Intense and more Powerful in their Influence upon the Heart Such Truth I meant by that expression which you seeme not to apprehend Some Discoveries of such Truth viz. Particular Notices of the Meanes of Grace I have often received from the Discourses I have had with Experimentall CHRISTIANS though Persons of no Learning or Art of Expression and therefore Sâ—r I do not thinke that you may justly say that I am Iuvenum Confidentissimus because I said in effect I had no small confidence that you might receive some New Apprehensions of sacred Truth from My Discourses whose greatest Study for some yeares hath been how I may set forth to others those Truths which I finde Written with the Finger of GOD upon the Table of mine owne Heart Sir That Confidence which I allow in My selfe I esteem so highly that I pray unto GOD continually to Encrease it I know no Vertue a Minister of CHRIST hath more frequent Occasion to make use of then true Confidence and strength of Spirit drawn forth into the Soule from an Apprehension that GOD is our Helper Sir I desire to approve my selfe to all Men and particularly to your selfe like Him whom we are Bound to love and imitate with all our heart and with all our soul Meek and Gentle and I hope you will shew your selfe no otherwise to Sir Your Servant EDM. ELIS. Mr. Hughes his Answer SIR YOur reply of the 4th instant I received the fifth and finding your resolution not to answer my Quaeries I cannot but in civility return these lines as a close to your Chalenge begun seeing the matter is not determined by the Respondent unto which Objection should be made for J know the hinge of the Controversie about set Forms imposed depends upon Scripture-Authority from which in this

case as in all matters of Faith J shall not depart ne hilum quidem As to what you write of other mens speaking against the Letany J shall not meddle withall nor as what you can say to other pieces of the book you mention But this I shall say if I understand what Letany is neither is the word reciprocall with your matter unto which it is prefixed nor the matter with the Word And however you say nothing can be said against it but what may easily be resolved into a Phanaticke humour I suppose if you read those Books written about this Argument of which J think you are not ignorant you may find more reason to be answered than phancy to be jeered If you seek for Objections I refer you to them As to other passages in your Letter I shall be silent lest I give you occasion to be angry Only I hope as you urge the experience of your own heart in your way of prayer to give you proof of its goodness so you will allow the experience of others in another way of praier than by book to plead for them Sir I shall make this amicable close with you as to any more writing You say my Quaeries were impertinent to your designe Truly I know not what your designe was but I am sure they were pertinent to determine the question of imposing formes of Prayer on them who have no need of them in the Church of God You say also you consider it simply without respect to its being imposed If you stand to your word I come to this issue if you argue not to impose it on the Church of God which can by Scripture directory make their addresses to God without it I shall not trouble you nor any that think your selves to stand in need of any lawfull forme of Prayer to help you Onely do not bind men to crutches whom God hath inabled to go without them I have done as to any more Letters about this matter And now commending you to the Word of Gods grace which is able to keep you and give you an inheritance among them that are sanctified I shall ever rest Plym Sep. 7. 1660. Yours to serve you in the Lord GEORGE HVGHES TO Mr. HVGHES SIR I Thank you for your last Letter but should thank you more but that I finde and expression in it which I apprehend as very Scopticall and Unfriendly That is this As to other passages in your Letter I shall be silent lest I give you occasion to be angry Sir if those passages were Evill I conceive you should be Bound in Conscience having so fair an opportunity to shew me wherein and that in such Plainnesse and Simplicity of expression as is fit to drop from the Tongue or Pen of a CHRISTIAN one that carries the Heavenly DOVE in his Bosome if they were not Evill you ought not to have such a reflexion on them as I conceive you had in the writing of that expression I must confesse a Carnall Man might easily have taken an occasion to scoffe at me if I had written to him as I did to you desiring that you would avoid all exasperating Language But Sir I take you to be a Person who know by your own Experience that it must needs be an exceeding great Trouble to any one that would alwayes Repose his Spirit in the GOD of Peace to be at any time Discompos'd though it be but by the least Act of Animosity or Indignation against any mans person and therefore that 't is not so Foolish to do or say what we can to prevent any thing by which the DEVIL may possibly frame in us a Temptation to that Sin of Anger or Roughnesse of Spirit If you wonder why I should feare that you would deale Vncivilly with me I must tell you you gave me too much reason for it in your first Letter namely by your Iuvenum Confidentissimus your so slight a matter as the sending you an Answer Your putting in these words An Able Respondent as mine though they were not to be found in any part of my Letter If I had exprest my selfe in those words the expression must have implyed a vaine boasting of mine owne Abilities whereas the expression that I used implied onely a Confidence of the Goodnesse of my Cause and the Strength that thereupon I should expect from God when ever I should in a pure and vertuous intention undertake to maintain it Sir I cannot but wonder that you should say I know not what your Designe was when I had told you what it was expresly in these words To know whether or no you have any thing to Object against this Position That a man may Worship GOD in Spirit and in Truth in the Vse of that Forme of Prayer for Morning and Evening which we call the Common-Prayer Which I told you I consider'd simply without respect to the imposing of it And I do stand to my Word But this I say that if the KING shall thinke fit to impose it by the reinforcement of that Old Act I doubt not but there will be men enough found out that shall be ready to manifest to the World the reasonablenes and the piety of such an Action but this Worke GOD hath not Call'd me unto That which I undertake is to maintain the Assertion above mentioned which I shall be ready to do God willing when ever I finde any thing like reason propos'd against it And I shall humbly entreat you to tell me what Book you would chiefly advise me to read which hath any thing in it expresly against the Letany which I take to be the best part of the Common-Prayer if any part may be said to be better then another in a Composition so entirely Excellent Alas Sir I do not stand in need of a Set Forme I thanke GOD but the generality of my Congregation do being not so ready to Apprehend extomporary Expressiâ—ns as I am to Deliver them Even those that are of the weakest capacities I advise to use their owne expressions when they Pray in secret * Neither do I ever confinâ— my selfe to a Set Forme in the Pulpit either before or after Sermon conceiving that that way of expressing my heart in Prayer which I use there may be more helpfull to the Devotion of some of my Auditory then the other and not wholly useless to the Other sort whose hearts in all probability are more wrought upon by the Other Service Sir I shall not trouble you any further concerning this business unlesse it be in vindication of what I have already written if you express those exceptions against it which you seem to imply in that saying Lest I give you occasion to be angry If you shall grant me the request above mentioned I shall take it for a great favour and shall be desirous of an opportunity to approve my selfe Sir Your thankefull servant To Mr. FORD SIR I Have reason to suspect that what has been spoken by

LETTERS TO Mr. HVGHES of PLYMOUTH AND Mr. FORD of EXETER IN DEVON CONCERNING The Common Prayer From EDM. ELIS a Minister of the Gospel of IESVS CHRIST LONDON Printed for R. Royston at the Angell in Ivylane 1660. TO THE READER I Thought to have given thee a full account why I publish these Letters But upon second Thoughts I considered that if thou art not capable upon a view of them to discover the Reasonablenesse of their Publication thou wouldst not apprehend it though I should expresse it unto unto thee Therefore I shall onely say that I heartily desire that all those who professe themselves True Ministers of THE TRVTH would resolve as I have done not to Write or Talke any thing in Matters of Religion to particular Persons or Congregations which they are asham'd to lay open in plain and clear Expressions to the view of all Men To Mr. HVGHES SIR IF you have any thing to object against the use of the Book of Common Prayer I must confesse some expressions in the Forme for the Buriall of the Dead and for Baptisme are such that though I do not dislike them I do not undertake to vindicate them because I do not finde that God has directed my minde so much to the study of those Points But Sir if you have any thing to object against that Excellent Book excepting those expressions either as a forme of Prayer in generall or as an Inconvenient Forme I have no small confidence that I shall be able by Gods assistance to answer your Objection And to give you some occasion to conceive some Spirituall Notions concerning Prayer which possibly for want of a due reflection upon your owne Opinion concerning Set Formes c. you have not yet had I shall intreat you to write me your thoughts as briefly as you can with perspicuity and plainnesse Sir I ackuowledge your superiority in respect of Yeares and Learning but yet let me tell you I do not thinke you Infallible neither so knowing but that some of your Brethren who are much your Inferiours in Parts and Learning may have received from the Father of Lights some particular Portion of sacred Truth which as yet you have not received And therefore Sir I beseech you as you expect that dreadfull Day wherein you shall answer for all your Actions before him that shall judge the Quicke and the Dead that you would not despise my Youth and scorn to send mean Answer If you convince me I doubt not but the GOD whom I serve will give me Grace to acknowledge my selfe Oblig'd to you for it And if you do not I firmely hope there shall be such an issue of our Controversie that if you be so pious as some good Men take you to be you will not be troubled for having written to me Sir Farewel And if you love the Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity be not so Uncharitable as to thinke otherwise then that 't is the love of Him that puts me upon any business of this nature which is so great a Trouble to my Outward Man I am Sir Your Servant EDM. ELIS. Mr. Hughes his Answer SIR BEeing suddenly surprized yesterday with an unexpected Letter from an unknown person by a strange hand and having made a cursory view of it with respect to its contents I thought it best to muse a while and not hastily return but having since reviewed againe I finde these heads observable therein 1. A challenge of me to be an Opponent against an Excellent book of Common-prayer wherein you have no small Confidence that you shall be an able Respondent give some Occasion to conceive some spirituall Notions concerning Prayer which possibly for want of a due reflection upon my owne Opinion concerning Set Formes c. I have not yet had Sir I shall be heartily glad to catch at any reall Notions about the spirit of Prayer for I want much of it but I should strange to see such spirituality to arise out of the flesh and of prayer as stated by men however I should be glad to see your promise performed As for my objecting and your answering it will be requisite that the Question be rightly stated and to know what Book you mean there was that of Edw the sixth which since hath had many Editions and Additions to make it unlike it self and yet of all these it is asserted by men wiser then my selfe that none of them are established by Law which I suppose is a Basis whereon you would not a little lean It were meet that the speciall Subject were assigned or perhaps the quaere may grow higher and more generall whether any set Forms as imposed by men are warranted by God and if none your particular will fall in that but I list not to be an Opponent yet though provoked by you I look for an higher Call 2. Your censure of me as to yeares c. yet you tell me you do not thinke me infallible nor so knowing but some Inferiours in parts and Learning may receive from the Father of Lights some portion of sacred Truth which as yet I have not received All this is truly spoken I finde it as well as you say it yet for saving truth I trust I have received what the Gospel revealeth though but in my measure and I am pressing on What other sacred Truth you may intend I know not but I am not so old but shall be willing to learn any truth of God 3. Your adjuring of me that as I expect that dreadful day wherein I shall give an account of all my Actions before him that shall judge the quicke and the dead that I despise not your youth and scorn to send you an answer Sir I tremble at Gods Word and take it well to be minded of that great day yet thus to be adjured upon so slight a matter as the sending you an answer I think is more than you can exemplifie from Paul to Timothy who useth such a solemn charge upon the highest concernments I thanke God I despise no mans youth I rejoyce to see them grow in grace and for your selfe I know not how old or young you be yet without scorn I shall say in Gods presence among the many that I have known if your owne word may be taken you are Iuvenum confidentissimus The Lord humble me and you also You add fair hopes of the Issue whether Victus or Victor And again if I be so pious as some good men take me to be I will not be troubled for having written to you Sir I hope I love piety yet it quiets not my heart that good men thinke so well nor much troubleth me to be otherwise judged of the world I stand not at mans stay or judgement but I hope if I had not written to you it could not certainly argue with you an utter defect of piety in me I trust I shall lay the proof of piety upon better evidence To take away therefore that prejudice

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