Selected quad for the lemma: water_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
water_n	ghost_n	holy_a	spirit_n	10,746	5	5.4766	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A36465	The doctrine of practicall praying together with a learned exposition on the Lords prayer / by George Downam.	Downame, George, d. 1634.; Downame, George, d. 1634. Godly and fruitfull exposition of the Lords prayer.	1656 (1656)	Wing D2060; ESTC R25565	260,703	451

not find themselves to stand in need of Gods help neither do depend upon the providence or blessing of God in the use of the means For such when they pray unto God for these things as namely to give them this day their daily bread they do not pray in truth because they do not unfeignedly desire that whereof they find no want II. In respect of spirituall things two sorts of men offend First those that are carnally secure who although they be wretched and miserable poore blind and naked yet being lukewarm with the Laodiceans Rev. 3. 17. feeling no want think they are rich and need nothing Secondly those who are righteous in their own conceit as Pharisaicall and Popish justitiaries For both these and the other feeling no want either pray not at all or if they do pray it is but for fashions sake and therefore praying usu magis quàm sensu out of custome rather then sense their prayer is not acceptable unto God and like lukewarm water to the stomach Wherefore it behoveth us to labour that we may have a true sense of our wants Which I speak especially in respect of spirituall graces for when we are pinched with bodily wants we are many times but too sensible thereof But of spirituall wants many have no sense and being miserable they feel no misery First therefore it is good to be perswaded that this sense of our wants is necessary for us For without it neither will we seriously seek unto the Lord neither will he seem to regard us We will not earnestly seek unto him for what we do not want we do not desire and what we do not desire that we do not ask except it be for fashion And how can we look that the Lord will compati that is have compassion on us when we do not pati or feel any want How can we desire him misereri to have mercy on us when we do not esteem our selves miseri to whom mercy belongeth for thence hath misericordia the name Yea if we be rich and full in ou●… own conceits the Lord will send us away empty Luke 1. 55. remaining in our sinne Luke 18. 14. exposed to his curse Luke 6. 24 25. Whereas on the other side if we be humbled with the sense of our want the Lord will have speciall regard unto us Isai. 66. 2. and 57. 15. and be near unto us in all our desires Psal. 34. 18. Yea such he calleth to him Matth. 11. 28. such he promiseth to heare Psal. 10. 17. John 7. 37. such he pronounceth blessed Matth. 5. 3 4 5. Secondly that we may attein to this sight and sense of our misery and wants we are to look into the glasse of the law which will reveal unto us our misery both in respect of our sins and also of the punishment due for the same c. Thirdly for as much as the sight and sense of our misery is the gift of God and work of his spirit we are to pray unto God that he will anoint the eyes of our minds with the eye-salve of his spirit Revel 3. 18. that we may see our sins and that he would touch our hearts with the finger of his spirit as he struck the rock in the wildernes that they may melt within us as the heart of Josias did at the reading of the law 2. Kings 22. 19. and be resolved into a fountain of tears by which we may bewail our sinnes whereby we have displeased and dishonoured God From this sense of our wants ariseth the second thing that is an earnest desire to have our wants supplyed And this is of such force in prayer that it seemeth to be nothing else but the expressing of our desire and is therefore called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and of such efficacie in prayer that some place the efficacie of prayer therein so reade the words of S. James ch 5. 16. The effectuall ●…ervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much others The prayer of a righteous man availeth much if it be fervent But though it be not the onely cause of efficacy yet it is one of the principall for as Augustine saith Dignior s●…quitur effectus quem ferventior affectus praecedit A more worthy effect followeth which a more fervent affection precedeth This praying with earnest desire is commended to us in the word of God by divers significant phrases For besides that it is called crying unto the Lord and crying mightily Jon. 3. 8. lifting up of our prayer Isai. 38. 14. this is also to poure forth our souls before the Lord like water Lam. 2. 19. In which sense the Israelites are said 1. Sam. 7. 6. to have drawn water from the fountain of their hearts and poured it out before the Lord. This is to pray with grones unspeakable Rom. 8. 26. which the holy Ghost stirreth up in us and is therefore an evident token of the child of God indued with the Spirit of adoption which is also the spirit of grace and supplication making us when we look upon him whom we have pierced by our sinnes to lament and mourn as a man mourneth for his first-begotten Zech. 12. 10. For as Augustine saith Plerunque hoc negotium plùs gemitibus quàm sermonibus agitu●… fletu plùs quam affatu For the most part this businesse is effected better with grones then words with weeping rather then speaking This is to pray with Paul 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 exceedingly 1. Thess. 3. 10. This is with Epaphras Col. 4. 12. as it were to wrestle with the Lord which the Apostle commendeth to the Romanes chap. 15. 30. By which kind of wrestling Jacob prevailed with God as Hosea teacheth chap. 2. 3 4. and was therefore called Israel Gen. 32. This is that prayer of the humble which pierceth the clouds Ecclus 35. 21. This fervent desire therefore is fervently to be desired of us and happy are they which have atteined to it Matth. 5. 6. The means to attein unto it are First because it is the work of Gods spirit to beg it of him by prayer Secondly to labour after a true sense of our wants Thirdly in our preparation to meditate on the excellency profit and necessity of those things which we crave that so our affections may be inflamed with a desire thereof as also of the necessity of Gods help that except the Lord heare us and help us our case is desperate So David prayeth Psal. 28. 1. and 143. 6 7. Heare me O Lord and hide not thy face else I shall be like to them that go down into the pit Fourthly we are upon extraordinary occasions to joyn fasting with our prayers as we are directed in many places of the Scripture For fasting as it causeth the hunger of the body 〈◊〉 it is an effectuall means to stirre up and increase the hunger of the soul. For which cause the Fathers 〈◊〉 fasting orationis alas the wings of prayer CHAP. XXX Of Faith