A53685:313
A discourse of the work of the Holy Spirit in prayer with a brief…
A discourse of the work of the Holy Spirit in prayer with a brief enquiry into the nature and use of mental prayer and forms / by John Owen ...
London: printed for Nathanael Ponder, 1682
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.
1. Some observe that there are Forms of Prayer composed and prescribed to be ⟨p. 237⟩used both in the Old Testament and the New. Such, they say, was the Form of Blessing prescribed unto the Priests on solemn Occasions, Numb. 6. 24, 25, 26. And the Psalms of David, as also the Lords Prayer in the New Testament. (1.) If this be so, it proves that Forms of Prayer are not intrinsically evil, which is granted, yet may the use of them be unnecessary. (2.) The Argument will not hold, so far as it is usually extended, at least; God himself hath prescribed some Forms of Prayer to be used by some Persons on some occasions, therefore men may invent yea and prescribe those that shall be for common and constant use. He who forbade all Images or all use of them in sacred things, appointed the making of the Cherubims in the Tabernacle and Temple. (3.) The Argument from the practice in use under the Old Testament in this matter, if any could thence be taken, when the People were carnal, and tied up unto Carnal Ordinances, unto the Duty and practice of Believers under the New Testament, and a more plentiful effusion of the Spirit, hath been before disproved. (4.) The words prescribed unto the Priests were not a Prayer properly, but an Authoritative Benediction, and an instituted sign of ⟨p. 238⟩Gods blessing the People; For so it is added in the Explication of that Ordinance, They shall put my name upon the Children of Israel, and I will bless them, ver. 27. (5.) Davids Psalms were given out by immediate Inspiration, were most of them Mystical and Prophetical, appointed to be used in the Church, as all other Scriptures, only some of them in a certain manner, namely, of Singing; and that manner also determined by Divine Appointment. (6.) That any Form of Prayer is appointed in the New Testament to be used as a Form, is neither granted nor can be proved. (7.) Give us Prayers composed by Divine inspiration with a command for their use, with the Time, Manner and Form of their usage, which these instances prove to be lawful, if they prove any thing in this case, and there will be no contest about them. (8.)
1. Some observe that there are Forms of Prayer composed and prescribed to be ⟨p. 237⟩