Selected quad for the lemma: truth_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
truth_n	prayer_n	spirit_n	worship_v	1,667	5	8.9917	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A86437	Contemplations moral and divine The second part.; Contemplations moral and divine. Part 2	Hale, Matthew, Sir, 1609-1676.	1676 (1676)	Wing H232; ESTC R229708	200,739	481

things to be done The Son of God that came out of the Bosome of his Father and knew all his Mind received a Commission from him to instruct Mankind in the way to Life Joh. 17.8 I have given unto them the Words which thou gavest me Joh. 3.34 He whom God hath sent speaketh the Words of God Matth. 11.27 No man knoweth the will of the Father save the Son and him to whom the Son revealeth it 3. As he came with Light to instruct us so he came with Power to conquer in us Thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power and to conquer for us Death and Hell The Business that we are to consider respecteth principally the first and second part of his Meditation viz. in bringing the Will and Mind of God to us to teach us what to ask which concerns his Prophetical Office And again having formed desires in us according to that Will of God to present them unto his Father which concerns his Priestly Office After this manner pray Luke 11.1 2. One of his Disciples said unto him Lord teach us to pray and he said When ye pray say c. In general we may learn 1. That Christ doth not exclude other Prayers The injunction of this excludes not all other prayers Our Saviour himself and those that were acquainted with his Mind and Practice used variety of prayers according to the several occasions differing from this form and therefore the Apostle commands Ephes 6.18 Praying always with all prayers and supplications Prayers formed for every occasion And that Spirit that maketh intercession for us with groans that cannot be uttered is not confined to any particular form not to vary from it 2. Though thou art not restrained to this form only yet in all thy prayers pray after this manner There is somewhat in this Prayer that must be ingredient to all thy prayers 1. Be sure thou hast a Commission a Promise for what thou prayest desire those things that are warrantable by the Will of God revealed in his Word Christ was acquainted with the Mind of God and gives us a pattern to ask those things which are warrantable Ask for thy good but ask not for thy Lust James 4.2 2. Though the things thou askest be warrantable and agreeable to the revealed Will of God Yet in the particularity of thy desires refer thy self and submit unto the Will of God because thou art not wise enough to know what is fit for thee in particular Especially in the measure time and manner of the thing thou askest The Son of God hath taught us to pray for the fulfilling of the Will of God before the supply of our own Wants and in his own Prayer in the Garden Matth. 26. Nevertheless not as I will but as thou wilt Whatsoever thou desirest yet confine not God Thou shalt be sure thy Prayer shall not lose his fruit though the thing desired seem not to be granted The Cup did not pass from our Saviour though he asked it Matth. 26.39 Yet he was heard in that he feared Heb. 5.7 3. As much as thou canst let thy prayer be a reasonable service a work of thy Spirit and Understanding 1 Cor. 14.15 not only of thy Lips and Tongue for thou hast to do with the God of the Spirits of all flesh that will be worshipped in spirit and in truth Pray with thy Lips that thou mayst by that means fix thy Mind the better to the work but let thy words be the production of thy Soul Let thy Heart pray as well as thy Tongue And this was one of the Reasons of our Saviour's inditing this Prayer in this short and pithy form to condemn the vanity of the Gentiles who had confidence in their vain repetitions of words without the intention and application of the heart Matt. 6.8 4. Here we see Christ the Wisdom of the Father delivers out a Form of Prayer framed with a great deal of Wisdom containing very much matter in a few words Learn that though thou art not to put confidence in studied Devotions nor to make thy prayers the work of thy invention or wit but of thy Heart and Soul yet let the Reverence and Awe thou bearest to him before whom thou comest in thy prayers the seriousness of the business about which thou goest put thee in mind to Prepare thy self and thy Soul and to tune it by these considerations to an humble frame of spirit to a fore-casting of thy desires to an humble approach to the presence of God to all beseeming Reverence both in thy words and gesture The Heart it is true should be in a continual frame of prayer and almost every occurrence of our Life requires a lifting up of the Heart to God in Prayer or in Thanksgiving which cannot be so ordered with preparation but a solemn Prayer though in private requires a just preparation of the Heart and a performance of it with the whole contribution of the whole Soul and strength and understanding and affection 3. Though thou art not bound to use no other form yet use this frequently upon these Considerations 1. It is the Command of thy Lord and Master There is somewhat of Command in these words He that commands to pray after this manner meant not that this Prayer should be forgotten That which was made a pattern to thy other prayers was not intended to be a thing only to be looked upon and not to be used Thou mayest use other Prayers to give scope to thy spirit but conclude with this 2. It is a great means of strengthning the Heart in Prayer When I shall consider I am now using that very Prayer which the Son of God when he was in the flesh at the request of his Disciples gave unto them not only as a rule and pattern but as a form When ye pray say c. I call the great God my Father and it is no presumption in me so to do the Eternal Son of God that knew all his Father's mind commanded me to call him so and to come before him as my Father I am begging for the conveniencies of my Life for the pardon of my Sins for my preservation in and from temptation Had they not been things that I might hope to be granted the Son of God would never have taught me to ask them O Lord it is true I can see nothing in my self why I should expect that thou shouldest hear me my Sins are renewed every day and I beged pardon but yesterday and I have sinned against thee the same Sin this day But yet thy Son that knowes all thy Will that would never have put me to beg that which were unfit for me to ask or thee to grant he it is that taught me to begg my daily bread of thee and as often in the same Prayer to begg thy forgiveness I will not learn hereby to presume in offending but yet I will learn to be confident in thy Mercy 3. It is a

for Thee Give us a sense of that infinite debt of Obedience that we owe unto Thee for our Being that product of an infinite Power and an infinite Motion for our well-beings our restitution in Christ without whom our very Being would have been our burden Give us a sense of the great imperfections of all our best performances that need no less a Sacrifice than the Blood and Intercession of Christ to wash them from that guilt that would damn us if we had nothing else to answer for Give us a sense of thy Great Condescention to thy weak and sinful Creatures that art pleased to deliver unto us the knowledge of thy Will and when we by Nature are unable to conceive it or to believe it dost give us Light to understand it and Faith to assent unto it that thy Law is Holy Just and Good and when for all these convictions of thy Truth our hearts the seats of Rebellion do oppose it in the love and practice of it thou art pleased to send down a powerful working of thy Spirit to chase out of us those oppositions of our corrupted Nature and to make us willing in the day of thy power and to strive with and subdue our hearts to any measure of the Love of thy Will and when notwithstanding all this our poor and lean performances are mingled with much of our own deadness contrary motions and pollutions yet thou art pleased to sprinkle our Obedience with the Blood of Christ to mingle it with his perfect Righteousness to forgive the defects to cover the imperfections to rectifie the deformities of all our Obedience to pardon what is ours our sins and defects and to accept and reward what is thine own as if it were ours when thou workest all our works in us and yet rewardest us as if we had wrought them And as in the distinct consideration of the Will of the Counsels and Commands of God we are to desire that his Will may be done on Earth as it is in Heaven so in the conjunct consideration of both these Wills There is not an Action or Event in the world but it falls out by the determinate Counsel and Fore-appointment of God and yet to the production of these Events we find a mixture of actions that expresly thwart the Command of God The greatest Event and of the greatest concernment that the World ever knew or shall know was the Death of Jesus Christ and though he was thus delivered by the determinate Counsel and Foreknowledge of God yet the Jews took and by wicked hands crucified and slew him Acts 2.23 The Counsel of God was a most Wise and Merciful Counsel the action of the Jews that fulfilled this Counsel was a most cruel and unjust action yet the injustice of the instrument did no way affect the Counsel of God nor the Counsel of God no way justifie the action of the Jews witness that heavy Curse that upon their own imprecation lyes upon the actors and their posterity unto this day His Blood be upon us and upon our Children Matth. 27.25 The man sins most willingly and though the Wise God intermingle occurrences that make the sinful actions of men instrumental to his Counsels yet their Guilt is no less and no less their own by being subservient to his Counsel God hath given thee a word of Command He hath shewed thee O man what is good and what doth the Lord require at thy hands Micah 6.8 Thou needest not nor maist seek out for a Rule of thy actions in the Secret Counsel of God nor endeavour to justifie thy actions because in order to the fulfilling of those Counsels but keep to that Rule which he hath given To the Law and to the Testimony Deut. 29.29 The secret things belong unto the Lord our God but those things that are revealed belong to us and to our Children for ever Therefore O Lord teach me so to wait upon the Will of thy Counsels and to be instrumental in them that I may nevertheless ever obey the Will of thy Command that while I act thy Will as a Creature I may never neglect it as a Man or a Christian Thy Wisdom it is true can bring about thy Counsels by the sinful actions of men and as thou turnest the hearts of men as Rivers of waters so thou turnest the sinful motions of the heart as a skilful workman can turn the streams of water so that whilest it moves naturally it shall bring about Ends that are of a higher constitution But surely if thou canst make those works of disobedience serve thy Providence much more canst thou use such actions to the fulfilling of thy Counsels that are suitable to thy Commands therefore as the Will of thy Counsels is done in Heaven by the Angels and Blessed Spirits in such a way as is suitable to thy Commands So let thy Will be done on Earth that while we serve thy Providence we may nevertheless Obey thy Will and whiles we closely observe what thou requirest that we may Contentedly Patiently Cheerfully and Thankfully submit unto and receive what thou in thy most Wise Counsel dispensest Give us this day our daily Bread Our Saviour directs us Matth. 6.33 to seek first the Kingdom of God and his righteousness and then promiseth that the things of this life shall be added to us And according to the Method of this Doctrine and Promise so is the Method of this Prayer first to seek the Glory Kingdom and Will of God and then for those things that are necessary for our selves And though he hath promised that they shall be added to us yet he directs to pray for what he hath thus promised to add And this is the course of God's Will and our Duty that we should begg of God what he hath certainly promised to give The Promises of God as they are the warrants of our Prayers so our Prayers are required though not as causes yet as means of fulfilling his Promises And then a Promise is most suitable and fitly performed when it is sued out by our Prayers When God had promised to build the ruined places and plant that which was desolate and had engaged his own Name and Truth to perform it I the Lord have spoken it and I will do it Ezech. 36.36 yet requires their prayers to precede the performance of it I will yet for this be inquired of by the house of Israel to do it for them and that amongst other upon these Considerations 1. To shew our Dependance upon him All Creatures as they are essentially depending upon God in their being and preservation so according to the measure of their power they testifie that Dependance Psal 104.21 The young Lyons seek their meat from God Psal 147.9 He giveth the Beasts their food and to the young Ravens which cry Psal 145.15 The Eyes of all wait upon thee and thou givest them their meat in due season There is a secret and unknown testification even in the