A30158:53
I will pray with the spirit, and I will pray with the understanding also,…
I will pray with the spirit, and I will pray with the understanding also, or, A discourse touching prayer, from I Cor. 14.15 wherein is briefly discovered 1. What prayer is, 2. What it is to pray with the spirit, 3. What it is to pray with the spirit and with the understanding also / by John Bunyan.
London : Printed for the author, 1663
I will pray with the Spirit, and I will pray with the understanding… › Part 1: I. What Prayer is.
Modern spelling is a reading aid: the words are the author’s, only the spelling is modernized. Original shows the page as printed, with the transcription marks.
But to proceed.
5. Prayer is a sincere, sensible, affectionate pouring out of the heart or soul to God, through Christ, in the strength and assistance of the Spirit, for such things as God hath promised, &c. Mat. 6. 6, 7, 8. Prayer it is, when it is within the compass of God's word; and it is blasphemy, or at best, vain babbling, when the Petition is beside the Book.
5. Prayer is a sincere, sensible, affectionate pouring out of the heart or soul to God, through Christ, in the strength and assistance of the Spirit, for such things as God hath promised, &c. Mat. 6. 6, 7, 8. Prayer it is, when it is within the compass of God's word; and it is blasphemy, or at best, vain babling, when the Petition is beside the Book.
David therefore still in his prayer, kept his eye on the Word of God. My soul, saith he, cleaveth to the dust; quicken me according to thy word, Psal. 119. 25, 28. And again, Psal. 119. 41, 42, 58, 65, 74, 81, 82, 107, 147, 154, 169, 170. My soul melteth for heaviness; strengthen me ⟨p. 22⟩according to thy Word. And, Remember thy word unto thy servant, on which thou hast caused me to hope. And indeed, the holy Ghost doth not immediately quicken and stir up the heart of the Christian without, but by, with, and through the word, by bringing that to the heart, and by opening of that whereby the man is provoked to go to the Lord, and to tell him, how it is with him; and also to argue, and supplicate, according to the Word.