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Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
body_n	head_n	member_n	mystical_a	10,566	5	10.6497	5	false

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A20731	The Christians sanctuarie vvhereinto being retired, he may safely be preserued in the middest of all dangers. Fit for all men to read at all times, especially for those that are exercised in the schoole of affliction, in the time of Gods present visitation. Described in two bookes or treatises: I. Of the Christian exercise of fasting. II. Of holy inuocation on Gods name. By George Dovvname Doctor of Diuinitie.	Downame, George, d. 1634.	1604 (1604)	STC 7113; ESTC S117550	81,534	108

seeke me diligently saying Come let vs returne to the Lord for he hath spoyled and he will heale vs c. And the same may bee confirmed by the examples of men in all ages who in their trouble doe call vpon the Lord. The Israelits though a rebellious people yet when the Lord slew them they sought him and they returned and sought God early Manasses though the most wicked of all the kings of Iudah yet when he was in tribulation being taken captiue and bound in chaines and carried to Babylon he prayed to the Lord his God and humbled himselfe greatly before the God of his fathers and prayed vnto him c. The prodigall sonne though he had runne a leaud course yet when he was pinched with penurie then hee did bethinke himselfe of returning home to his father and falling downe before him said Father I haue sinned against heauen and before thee c. And this is that which some doe well gather out of this text that God doth therefore afflict vs that we may call vpon him that calling vpon him we may be deliuered that being deliuered we may glorifie him Fourthly because the Lord many times doth therefore delay his helpe and deferre our deliuerance that our desire may be inflamed and our faith exercised as appeareth by the parables of the two friends Luke 11.5.8 and of the widdow and the judge and the scope thereof Luke 18. by the practise of the Lord with the Israelits Iudg. 10. to whose request hee would not at the first condiscend but when they persisted in prayer confessing and forsaking their sinne it is said that his soule was grieued for the affliction of Israel by the behauiour of our Sauiour Christ towards the woman which was a Canaanit for when she had cried after him to haue mercie on her because her daughter was miserably vexed with a diuell and our Sauiour aunswered not a word she notwithstanding persisted in calling vpon him insomuch that his disciples came vnto him and besought him saying Send her away for she crieth after vs And although he answered that he was not sent but to the lost sheepe of the house of Israel notwithstanding shee importuneth him againe and comming vnto him worshipped him saying Lord helpe me And hauing receiued another repulse our Sauiour answering that it was not meet to take the childrens bread and to cast it to whelpes she acknowledged her selfe to be such a one but yet expected such crums as it were from his table Whereupon our Sauiour Christ hauing tried her sufficiently commendeth her faith and graunteth her request And lastly because the Lord in this place hath not onely commaunded vs to call vpon him in the time of affliction but also hath promised to deliuer vs. And therefore in obedience to this commandement and in faith in this promise wee are to poure foorth our soules before the Lord in the day of affliction But some man will aske When is this day of affliction wherein we are to call vpon God Affliction is euery thing that crosseth our lawfull desires and that is either priuat or publicke priuat either belonging to our selues or to others to our selues either in our soules as the anguish of the soule for sinne which is the greatest affliction or other heauinesse and passions melancholike or in our bodies as sicknesse infirmitie hurts or wounds or in our goods as pouertie want losses debts or in our good name as infamie by euill reports or slaunders or in those that belong vnto vs as wife children and seruants To others as to our kinred friends acquaintance neighbours countreymen brethren in Christ as all Christians are to be esteemed of vs though forrainers in respect of place and in respect of affection not well minded to vs for such a sympathie there ought to bee betwixt those that are members of the same bodie politick but much more of the same mysticall bodie of Christ especially when other respects also concurre of kinred amitie acquaintance neighbourhood c. that in a fellow feeling and Christian compassion we should mourn when other members of the same bodie are afflicted When the affliction therefore belongeth to our selues we are in our owne behalfes to call vpon God when to others we are in tender compassion of their griefe to commend their cause to God in our prayers Dauid when those who indeed were his enemies were afflicted he humbled himselfe in fasting and prayer for them Psal. 35.13 In like sort he mourned and fasted for the death of Saule and Ionathan 1. Chron. 10. and also of Abner 2. Sam. 3. Publicke affliction is when the countrey the Church or Commonwealth is afflicted with any common calamitie as famine sword pestilence desolation captiuitie and such like Let vs therefore consider whether this present time be a time of affliction or not and if it be let vs know that this commaundement belongeth vnto vs and that the Lord calleth vs to fasting and prayer Be it that in respect of thy selfe and those that belong to thee thou hast no cause of mourning as who almost is free yet thy brethren thy sisters thy friends thy countreymen thy fellow members in the bodie of Christ are visited by the hand of God or the places of their dwelling at least infected with this contagious sickenesse Did Dauid fast and mourne and pray for his enemies when they were in affliction and doest not thou mourne for thy deare brethren and friends But though we had no priuat cause of griefe yet the common calamitie should most of all affect vs seeing the chiefe cities and many other places of the land the Lord shooting his arrowes on euery side are visited with the fearefull plague of pestilence What shall we thinke because we as yet through the goodnesse of God haue escaped this plague that therefore it is not a time of affliction wherein wee are to humble our selues before God by fasting and prayer Farre be it from vs that we should be so hard-hearted as that we should not take to heart the affliction of Ioseph or such vnnaturall members of the bodie politicke or vnsound and rotten members of the mysticall bodie of Christ as that when the chiefe citie and as it were the head of our countrey besides many other places and persons is so grieuously afflicted that we should not condole and mourne together with them and pray to God for them Or may we think that because our selues and perhaps also the places where we dwell are free that therefore this affliction and judgement doth not concerne vs yes beloued it doth neerely concerne vs. For that this affliction is laid vpon the land for sinne we need not doubt seeing the Scripture so oft doth teach that truth Behold sayth the Prophet Esay thou art angrie when we offend Dauid testifieth that the Lord with rebukes doth chastise men for sinne and Ieremie That men are punished for their sinnes insomuch that afflictions

proud And as the blessed virgin saith He filleth the hungrie with good things but the rich he sendeth emptie away 41. Another notable meanes to confirme our faith in the assurance of obtaining our sute is to forsake our sins which make a separation betweene God and vs and to promise amendment for the time to come which also is testified by our fast For it is not sufficient to confesse our sinnes if we would find mercie with God but also we must forsake them And if we desire to be deliuered from the euill which doth afflict vs and to obtaine the contrarie blessing which doth affect vs then it behooueth vs to forsake our sinne which is the cause of the affliction and also an obstacle and as it were a partition wall betwixt God and vs to keepe his blessings from vs. Wouldest thou then haue thine affliction remooued remooue the cause which is thy sinne And if thou wouldest haue God to repent him of the euill of affliction which he hath either threatned or inflicted then must thou also repent of the euill of sinne which hath merited the affliction Now if we shall truly repent of our sinnes and vnsainedly purpose amendment of life for the time to come then may we persuade our selues that our preseruation and deliuerance shall be joyned with Gods glorie consequently may be emboldned with better assurāce of faith to desire the Lord to preserue deliuer vs euen for his own glory for his names sake But here as we desire any sound cōfort so must we deale soundly with the Lord and not as the common practise of the most in the time of affliction to promise greatmatters vnto the Lord which they haue no true purpose to performe for this is to flie vnto God and to go about to deceiue him with our lippes 42. And hereby appeareth the great necessitie of joyning the practise of repentance with the exercise of prayer in our fast And therefore fasting as it was ordained to be an helpe vnto our prayer so also to bee both a testimonie furtherance of our repentance as I haue shewed Now our repentance standeth in two things in the eschewing of euill and doing of good As touching the former abstinence from euill and ceassing from sin is signified in our fast by abstinence form food and delights and by cessing from our labors For therefore the Lord doth the rather require in our fasts the abstaining and ceassing from things in themselues lawfull that thereby we might be admonished much more to abstaine from that which is vnlawful In which respect Basil calleth fasting 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a medicine to take away sinne And Augustine this is sayth he the profit of fasting that whiles we fast from lawfull things wee are admonished more and more to forbeare vnlawfull things If therefore wee auoid things which sometimes are lawfull let vs chiefely auoid sinnes which are neuer lawfull if we fast from meats much more let vs fast from sinnes Quid prodest vacuare corpus ab escis animam replere peccatis What auaileth it to keepe the body emptie from meats and to fill the soule with sinne For abstinence from things lawfull if it be not joyned with abstinence from things vnlawfull that is to say if our fasting from food and other delights be not joyned with fasting from sinne it is odious and abhominable in the sight of God A day of rest and not resting from sinne the Lord cannot endure together It is not the emptinesse of the bellie or cleannesse of the teeth but the puritie of the foule and cleanenesse of the heart nor the outward rest from labour but the spirituall rest from sinne that is acceptable vnto God without which the outward fast as it causeth vs to smell worse to men according to the prouerbiall phrase 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so maketh it vs to stinke before God 43. It is well said of the heathen man that we ought to fast from sinne For as Basill truly sayth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 true fasting is abandoning of euill And to the like purpose others of the fathers Chrysostome True fasting sayth he is abstinence from euill and againe the commendation of a fast is not abstaining from meat but auoiding of sinne Augustine The fasts of Christians are rather spiritually to be obserued than carnally Wherfore let vs principally fast from sinne For what a thing is this that any deceiuer should abstaine from meats which God hath created and should grow fat with sinne principally therefore let our mind fast from euill for seeing fasting is the humbling of the soule what a thing is that to be humbled and abated in food and increased in sinne And likewise Cyrill Wilt thou haue mee shew thee what manner of fast thou must obserue fast from all sinne take no food of mallice receiue no dainties of pleasure inflame not thy selfe with the wine of lust fast from bad practises abstaine from euill speeches containe thy selfe from wicked thoughts such a fast pleaseth God But these testimonies of men were of little weight if the Lord himselfe did not auouch the same truth See therefore Esay 58. and Zach. 7. where the Lord rejecteth the fasts of the Iewes because whiles they fasted and forbare their food they did not forbeare their sinnes We must therefore remember when we obserue a fast and consecrate a Sabbath of humiliation vnto the Lord that we turne away our foot that is our affections from doing our owne will therein neither must we follow our owne waies nor seeke our owne delights nor speake a vaine word 44. And as we are to abstaine from all sinne in generall so especially from those wherein we haue chiefly offended and haue thereby prouoked the Lord either to shake his rod at vs or else to correct vs therewith For they being the cause of the judgement must be remoued away if we would haue the judgement it selfe remoued And therefore the Niniuits when they proclaimed a fast gaue in charge that euery one should turne from his euill way and from that violence for that was the crying sinne of the Niniuits which was in their hand And when God saw their workes that they turned from their euill waies he also repented of the euill that he had said that he would doe vnto them that is to say he did it not And we must so abstaine from our sinnes as that we may not seeme to haue laid them aside for a day or two but to haue cast them off for euer For that is not the fast which the Lord hath chosen that a man should afflict his soule for a day and hang downe his head like a bullrush For as the sonne of Syrach sayth He that washeth himselfe because of a dead bodie and toucheth it againe what auaileth his washing so it is with a man