Selected quad for the lemma: duty_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
duty_n	heart_n	lord_n	soul_n	3,745	5	4.9226	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A95721	Church reformation, a discourse pointing at some vanities in divine service. Delivered in two sermons at Bridgnorth: Sept. 30. 1660. Being the Lords Day; and the time of the assizes held there for the county of Salop. By Mich: Thomas, rector of Stockton in the same county.	Thomas, Michael, rector of Stockton.	1661 (1661)	Wing T968; Thomason E1055_17; ESTC R203930	25,323	52

holy hands This Rite in Prayer was observed by the Heathens even by the instinct of Nature So Virgil speaking of Aeneas Ingemit duplices tendens ad sidera palmas He sighed and lift up his hands to Heaven Many other authorities might be cited of this nature Cosma Magalianus glosses upon these words of St. Paul The lifting up of the hands is Orantis forma ex alto auxilium petentis 't is such a posture of Prayer whereby we declare that we seek for help from Heaven This was that posture to which the Prophet Jeremy exhorted the distressed Jews Let us lift up our hearts with our hands to God in the Heavens Lamenta 3. 41. Not the heart alone but hands and heart too I had not mentioned this particular but to remember you what an express and punctual charge the Lord gives for all parts of bodily Worship among which this of lifting up the hands is so eminent that the whole duty of Prayer is comprehended under it When ye stretch out your hands I will turn mine eyes from you says the Lord by his Prophet Isaiah And this may serve to shame us for our dulness and sluggishness and for that no motion which our bodies express in the time of Divine Wo●ship Outward gestures are not only the Ornaments of Religion but the Incentives of Devotion The lifting up of thy hands may be the raising up of thy Pew-fellows heart he may take a spark from thy holy zeal and kindle himself into a flame of piety but however it fare with him if thou bow down thy knee before God he will bow down his ear to hear thee and if thou lift up thy holy hands thy help shall come from on high and the Lord will fill them with good things I should in the next place give you notice that there is a reverence due to the House of God from the tongue And I hope there is not such a critical Auditor in this Congregation as to charge me with a digression from the Text because Solomon speaks to this subject in the verse immediately following he advises there Be not rash with thy mouth and let not thy heart be hasty to utter any thing before God Cajetan gave this sense of the words Oratio ad Deum careat festinatione tam in ore quam in corde Our prayers to God must be so ordered that our hearts be neither hasty in conceiving nor our tongues in uttering The Original word says Lorinus signifies festinare praecipitanter an headlong haste that is when a man gives himself the liberty of speaking quicquid in buccam venerit whatsoever comes next into his thoughts without premeditation whether the words whereby those thoughts must be presented be proper and acceptable or no. And therefore in provision against this vanity of the tongue it seemed good to the Church in all ages to p●epare Liturgies and set forms of Prayer by which the devotion of the people of God should be regulated that their mouths should not be rash nor their hearts hasty to utter any thing before God That great searcher into Antiquity Mr Gregory hath delivered it unto us from very reverend Authority that Noah himself while he was in the Ark used a set form of Prayer whereof he gives us the Copie out of an Arabick Manuscript and although there be no need to distrust the faith of such a venerable Record yet we have other evidence for the use of forms of Prayer from unquestionable authority We have the manner of the Temple-service as it was in use in our Saviours time and we find not any where that he took offence at it Yea we find that when his Disciples came to him and besought of him that he would teach them to pray as John had taught his Disciples He prescribes them a set form When ye pray say Our Father c. Verba et recitationem certam praescribit says Melancton Christ commands to repeat the very words Aliter orare quam Deus docuit non ignorantia sola est sed culpa says St Cyprian To pray otherwise then the Lord Christ hath taught us is not only our ignorance but our sin Wherefore says he My beloved brethren let us pray as God hath taught us And accordingly we find in Tertullian It was the manner of the Primitive Christians to begin their Divine Service with the Lords Prayer praemissa legitimâ ordinariâ Oratione Dominicâ When they had used that lawful and ordinary prayer which the Lord Christ had taught them then there was jus superstruendi A right of building upon that foundation and continuing their divine service according to those Liturgies which were comp●led by Saint Mark and Saint James as the Eastern Church stedfastly believes Which Liturgies as it is supposed were afterwards altered by St. Basil and St. Chrysostom and fitted for more publick use and out of which and the ancient forms in the Western Church that Liturgy which is established in this Church of England was collected and composed Prayer is a duty and every duty is a debt and debts you know must be paid in currant money such as hath the present Caesars stamp or image upon it So that for the discharge of the duty and the payment of that debt of prayer I humbly conceive the safest and the most currant that is the most acceptable Coyn to pay it with will be in those Prayers which have the stamp and impressions of the Church of God upon them I mean in the Confessions and Absolutions and Collects and Letanies which are compiled to that purpose and which were present and end in the Name of Christ And when we pay our debt of prayer in the words and in the Name of Christ I see no reason we have to doubt of a discharge and acquittance of our sins in the blood of Christ Jesus There are yet two pieces of the outward man to be prepared and fitted for divine worship which must be taken into a short consideration lest I be too much streightned with time for the Points that remain The two parts or pieces of our outward man are the Eye and the Head and we must have an especial regard of these It was the resolution of a very holy man 't was Job That he would make a Covenant with his eyes he would not allow them that liberty which nature had given them of wandering upon every pleasant object And it was the confession of a very holy man 't was St. August that in his younger days Intra sacros parietes egi negotium procurandi fructus mortis Even while he was within the Walls of Gods House his eyes were wandring and lusting and he was making a bargain for the fruits of death Now forasmuch as the chastity of the soul is in so much danger to be violated and betrayed through the treason of the eye it will concern us to joyn with another holy man with David in his Prayer Turn away mine eyes from beholding

CHURCH Reformation A DISCOURSE Pointing at some VANITIES in DIVINE SERVICE Delivered in Two SERMONS at Bridgnorth Sept. 30. 1660. Being the Lords Day and the time of the Assizes held there for the County of Salop. By MICH THOMAS Rector of Stockton in the same County Ye shall keep my Sabbaths and Reverence my Sanctuary I am the Lord Levit. 19. 30. Si quis dicat Domum Dei contemptibilem esse Conventus qui in ea celebrantur Anathema sit Concilium Gangrense Canone quinto LONDON Printed for Jo Martin Ja Allestry and Tho Dicas and are to be sold at the Bell in St. Pauls Church-yard 1661. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ECCLES 5. 1. Keep thy foot when thou goest to the House of God and be more ready to hear then to give the Sacrifice of Fools For they consider not that they do evil SOme of those Learned men who have imployed The Preface their Talent of sacred knowledge in the Exposition of this Book have made a critical Observation upon the Inscription of it They tell us that according to the Original we should read the first Verse of it thus The words of the Preacheress the Son of David King in Jerusalem But what Was Solomon the Son of David a Preacheress How so they endeavour to assoyl the doubt thus Either by supplying the word Sapientia or Anima That in this Book The Wisedom of Solomon is the Preacheress instructing the Sons of men in that difficult Question de summo bono and directing them towards the attainment of the Chiefest Good Or the Soul of Solomon is The Preacheress that is Solomon is delivering the various Observations which he had made upon the world heartily and experimentally The Text which he chose was Vanity of Vanities which he proves and prosecutes by convincing Arguments and in such a Method and Manner as St. Paul afterward instructed his Son Timothy in the Art of Preaching I made use of this Criticisme for a Preface to my Discourse Captare Benevolentiam to bespeak and prepare your favourable attention for here are those Three things which according to the Orator are most available to gain an Audience Here is First Eloquence in the Authour The Wisdom of God speaking in and by Solomon Here is Secondly Importance in the matter St. Ambrose and St. Gregory of Nyssen say This Book is a Treasury of Divine Knowledge the Doctrine of it may serve to wean us from the love of these earthly things and further us in securing our interest in the things of Heaven Here is Thirdly Perspicuity and Brevity in the Method This great Argument concerning the Vanity of the Creature is handled Succinctly and Demonstratively so as to convince the judgements and to stop the mouths of such as have the greatest love and affection for the world Supposing then this whole Book to be but one Sermon I must intreat you to look upon the words which I have selected for the Text as upon one particular Note of it In the former Chapters Solomon declares the several Vanities which he had observed in other things In this Chapter he points at those Vanities which are incident to Divine Service It pleased the Lord to appoint and enable Solomon to be the Builder of his Temple It pleased him also to inspire and direct Solomon to be the Reformer of the abuses of his Temple So that from him we may expect a perfect Pattern or Plat-form of Church Reformation We have had of late much talk and high pretentions by some for A Thorough Reformation of this Church of England but the Lord knows and the Lord give them grace to know and to consider that beside nothing was done the face of Divine Worship was rendered more deformed to the wo●ld and left more ill-featur'd then when they first undertook the cure and the ways they proceeded by we●e crooked and improbable to produce such a blessed effect It was not likely to Reform a Church by ejecting learned and faithful Ministers by decrying a pious Liturgy and Form of Divine Worship by leaving Churches utterly void and no Ministers to attend their desolate Congregations in their holy things But I shall chuse rather to mourn in secret then to inlarge a publike complaint against those unhappy miscarriages That there are corruptions crept into the House of God and that there are still some very considerable and very deplorable Vanities in our Divine Service is too visible and apparent and by the good providence of God I am here this day as Solomons Amanuensis as one that hath taken some short Note out of his great Sermon and in an humble way to give you some notice of them Since we are so happily met together on the Lords Day and in the Lords House I could not conceive any Argument would be more proper then to discourse of that Divine Service which we ought to perform to God as on these days and in these places I am so charitable as to hope that there is not one soul in this Congregation so vain but desires to serve the Lo●d reverently and acceptably and to observe the prescriptions of his most holy Will both for the matter and form of it and the doctrine of this text will direct us in both the parts of it I must tell you that I have not managed my meditations on this argument so as to please all but as near as I could to edifie all I durst not neglect my duty nor be deficient to that providential Call which summoned me to this publique employment and I hope no one will be displeased at such a plain and faithful discourse by which I endeavour to deliver my own soul and to further the salvation of his And so I proceed to the Explication and Division of the text I do not obserue any considerable variety in the several Translations Arias Montanus renders the Hebrew by Quando ibis When thou shalt go The Lxx. by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Quum vadis When thou dost go The Vulga● Latine by Ingrediens Domum Dei When thou art entring into the house of God But some may say Must all our care be taken as we are going to or as we are entring into the house of God as these Translations import And indeed the Syriack and the Arabick import no more I answer It is an usual Trope in Scripture Ex anteceder te intelligere consequens by the antecedent to collect the consequent and the Trope must have place here This counsel of Solomon is not to be understood of things to be done when we are going to the house of God but what we are to do when we are come thither There may be some preparatory actions and meditations which may dispose and qualifie us for Divine Worship But that which Solomon here speaks of is of the essence and substance of it But what is that Keep thy foot Spiritualem pedem animae omnes interpretantur says Lorinus All those Expositors whose opinions he

is something more in them Hippomanus and some other Expositor have objected The Second Sermon That that Ceremony of Discalceation among the Jews was used to signifie a mans departure from his Right in passing his Inheritance to another as we read Ruth 4. 7. And it is not improbable that Solomon in this Instruction might have respect unto that Ceremony When St. Paul called upon the Corinthians to glorifie God both with their bodies and their spirits he presses them to it by this Argument Ye are not your own ye are bought with a price as if he had spoken to them in the phrase of the Text Put off your Shoes from your feet Yeild up that right which ye have to the members of your bodies and the faculties of your souls unto Christ who hath redeemed them And from this Notion of the phrase which is genuine enough and analogous to the rule of divine Worship I may raise some other Notions which may serve to advance and promote the Duty which we have in hand I shall easily admit that account which Lorinus gives us that by foot here is meant the feet that is the affections of the soul but may I not put the question Of the soul only Had Solomons instruction no design upon the members of the body Doth Divine Reverence consist only in the pious frame and composure of the soul Certainly it requires the whole man the inward man and the outward man too and the ensuing Discourse will be managed accordingly in some short Directions for the decent behaviour of the outward man First I advise according to the letter of the Text. Keep thy foot when thou goest to the House of God When thou art going thither keep on thy way suffer no temptation either to stay thee at home or to turn thee aside from it It is one of the choicest arts of Satan in hindering men from going to the House of God he knows that there is not any thing that debauches the spirit of a man nor hardens his hea●t more then his frequent absence from divine worship that 's the sin which keeps men in ignorance of themselves and of the ways of God and discomposes them for that great account which they must render to the Lord at the last day 1 Chron. 21. 30. We read That David could not go up to Gibeon to inquire of the Lord because of the sword of the Angel of the Lord that is because he was to pass through infected places thither but when the way to the House of God is clear and safe thy absence from it will not be defended by either of those too common excuses some worldly business or the entertainment of a friend that came to visit th●e Again Keep thy foot when thou art come into the House of God Tertullian tells us that the primitive Christians had their Dies stationum days of standing wherein they thought it Nefas as he expresses it an unlawful thing to kneel though at Prayer and those days continued from the Passover to the Pentecost in memory as it is thought of our Saviours Resurrection St. Cyprian tells us that the Confessors and Martyrs who persevered in the faith were called Stantes The Standers The ancient Church took up another custom at the reading of some portions of the Gospel and at the repetition of the Articles of our Faith that the Congregation should stand up not only to acknowledge their unity and consent in faith but to testifie their resolution to persevere in that faith and to maintain the truth of that Gospel against all opposers And since that custom of standing at those times at the repetition of the Creed and the reading of the Gospel hath been derived down to us by the piety of our fore-Fathers I advise you to look to your feet then do not kneel at the Creed as the manner of ignorant persons is as if it were a prayer Do not sit as if ye doubted of the truth or were not concerned in that publick profession of your Faith and as if your constancy to it would be conditional that is so long as it stands in favour and is in fashion with the world But in the Name of God stand up at it and stand up for it that the Lord may stand with you as He did by St. Paul and strengthen you in the day of your tribulation I pursue my design of putting our outward Man into a reverend posture for divine worship and therefore the discourse riseth from the Foot to the Knee Look to that that it be not too stiffe in the House of God God standeth in the Congregation saith David doth God stand and do his holy Angels stand and look upon thee and wilt thou sit Wilt thou sit and never kneel St. Jerom's rule is not only frequenter orandum to be often in the duty of prayer but flexo corpore orandum to declare an inward humiliation by an outward Our coming to Church is a Testification a profession of our Religion and to testifie our fall in Adam the Church appoints us at certain times to fall upon our knees and to testifie our faith in the Resurrection both of Christs and our own the Church hath appointed certain times to stand but no man is so left to his liberty as never to kneel Genu-flexio est Peccatorum Kneeling is the sinners posture If thou come hither in the quality of a sinner and if thou do not what dost thou here put thy self into the sinners posture Kneel sometimes Habe reverentiam Deo ut quod pluris est ei tribuas is devout Bernard's counsel And let me improve it thus Do but remember with what reverence thou hast come into thy Masters presence when thou wast a Servant Do but remember with what reverence thou hast come into thy Landlords presence when thou wert a Tenant Do but remember with what reverence thou hast come into a Court of Justice when thou wert either a Client or a Pleader or a Witness or but a stander by Do but remember with what reverence ye have come into the Kings presence or the Council Table or which was much lower to a Committee-Table Collect I say but the reverence which thou hast shewed to these Persons and in these places and though I could wish the Lord had but as much such bowing of the knee such bending of the body such uncovering of the head even in the coldest weather such mannerliness in all points yet Quod pluris est says Bernard God must have thus much reverence and more for all these expressions of reverence may be counterfeit these honourable Persons may have the body but not the heart but the Lord must have all Remember that call of David in the 95. Psalm O come let us worship and fall down and kneel before the Lord our Maker From the reverence of the knee we may pass to the reverence of the hands I will says St. Paul that men pray every where lifting up