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	pray_v	prayer_n	4,517	5	6.8272	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A16830	The true souldiers convoy A sermon preached upon the xvjth. day of May 1640, vpon a prayer day, for the Princes good successe in going forth to warre. By William Bridge.	Bridge, William, 1600?-1670.	1640 (1640)	STC 3732; ESTC S106547	26,900	104

7. All you that are watchmen upon the wals of Ierusalem all the day and all the night continually cease not ye that are mindfull of the Lord keepe not ye that are mindefull of the Lord keepe not silence And giue him no rest till he repaire and untill he set up Ierusalem the praise of the Lord. Vse Vse Will prayer do it Will prayer raise God for the scattering of the enemies of the Churches J beseech you in the name of God let us consider where to lay the fault and the blame of much of that evill which is come upon the Churches in these latter times when the defeate was lately before Antwerpe there was fault laid on such a man and such a man when we consider the afflictions of Germany we are ready to say if such a King or country had stepped in all this evill had been prevented the Palatinate restored and peace setled but may we not rather say if our prayers had stepped in This word telleth us that our prayers do awaken God and when God is awakened then the enemies are destroyed we see then in truth where the fault lyeth our prayers haue not come in full enough wherefore the lesse we haue prayed before the more let us pray now pray in your closets pray in your families pray in the assemblies pray alone pray in company pray for all the Churches pray for Germany the first place of reformation pray for Holland your hiding place and in all your prayers forget not England still pray for England take some motiues First You are unnaturall if you pray not it is reported of Croesus his sonne that hee was dumbe and seeing one about to kill his father though he had been alwaies dumb before yet then he burst forth into this speech what will you kill Croesus If you be in Christ the Church of Christ is more to you then many Croesusses your grace doth not extinguish nature but advance it helpe and not hinder a gracious heart cannot be unnaturall though it loveth to be supernaturall Secondly It is the property of a good Christian and of true grace to obserue what worke God is doing and to helpe on that worke what God is doing in the world and to help that on what God is doing upon his own heart and to helpe that on Oh Lord saith the soule helpe mee I will help thee I will put my shoulder unto thy worke as thou art pleased to put thy hand to my duty now the great work which God is doing in these times is the powring out of the seven vials Rev. 16. and if you look into the Rev. 5. 8. You shall finde that the saints prayers are their vials help forward then Gods vials with your viall viall doth call for viall Thirdly Either good and deliverance will come unto the Churches or els it will not if it do not you had need pray that your hearts may be supported in all and setled prayer is a composing duty and fully setling if it doe come you had neede pray that you may haue the comfort of it when it commeth or els that you may not envy at those that haue prayed for it is a hard thing for one that standeth Idle not to envy at him that worketh Fourthly You do not loue the Churches if you doe not pray for them He that loveth Ierusalem prayeeh for the peace of Jerusalem Doe you loue England Doe you loue Germany Do ye loue Holland Doe you loue the Churches and your friends He that loveth Ierusalem prayeth for it and if you doe not pray for them you haue no loue to them Fiftly You cannot prosper if you do not pray they shall prosper that loue thee how loue thee in praying for thee you cannot prosper if you pray not for the Churches will you not pray then Sixthly you are not Gods seruants if you doe not pray for his servants you are not Gods children if you pray not for his children if you mark that of the Psalmist it is made an act of service and a signe of a servant to pitty the dust and stones of fallen Ierusalem saith he thy servants pitty the dust therof as if they were not servants that haue no pitty I know you would not haue your livery taken from you all things of the like nature sympathize with one auother if you haue the same nature with the Saintes you shall you will you must sympathyze with them in all conditions you cannot but pray Seventhly You cannot haue a part in the prayers of the Churches unlesse you pray for the Churches think upon this argument can you be contented to loose your share in all the prayers of the Saintes an action there is better then an action in the East-India company there stock is great if your stock go not in you cannot haue a part with them and that is evill Eightly If you pray not for the Churches your own selfeish prayers will be bootlesse when a man shall pray much for his owne family his own name or estate his owne child that lieth a dying and will not pray for the dying Churches this is a self-ish duty a carnall selfe-ish spirit is very loathsome in what is spirituall and what are you the better for your rich cabbin your warme cabbin your neate cabbin if your ship sinke Ninethly Consult with the 13 chapter of Nehemiah 1. 2. There you find it written Neh. 13 1. 2. that the Ammonite and the Moabite should not come into the Congregation of God for ever what was the reason because they met not the childrē of Israel with bread and with water He that will not meet with distressed Israel with such reliefe as he may is an unfit man to haue a name in a Church of Christ and it is unfit he should come into the house of God for ever wherfore as ever you desi●e to haue a name in Gods house pray pray oh now pray you may with this bread and water meet with Israel and in meting with them you do meet with Christ Tenthly The price of the welfare peace and good of the Churches is now rising Fugiantia sequimur the time may come it may not be purchased or bought in by prayer J remembcr I haue read of a man that brought the booke of the Sibils unto the Emperour or King of the Romanes and desired a great price for those books the Emperour refused he goeth away burneth halfe the books doubled the price and then commeth to the Emperour and offered him them at that rate the emperour refuseth again he went away and burnt the halfe of those books which were left and doubled the price which the Emperour considering gaue him the whole money which he desired so now it may be you may haue the welfare the peace the life of the Churches for prayer time may come wherin though you adde to your prayer your estates to your estates your liberties to your liberties all your welfares and to your

welfares your lives yet you may goe without it now it may bee had at this good rate will you not take this good commodity whilest it is offered to you Tenthly Jt may be the businesse 10. of the Churches stayeth upon your prayer if that midwife would come away the woman would be delivered Reu. 7. Foure Angels were Reu. 7. sent out to punish the world and after that a fift Angel is commissioned to go bid them hold their hand till the servants of the living God are sealed in their foreheades Angels work must stay till they be sealed saith Hezekiah Is 37 3. This day is a day of trouble Isay 37 ● and of rebuke and of blasphemy for the children are come to the birth and there is not strength to bring forth So say I brethren it may be the Lord your God will hear the words of all Rabshakahs whom the enemies of the Church haue employed to reproach the living God will reproue the words which the Lord your God hath heard wherefore lift up your p●●yer for the rem●ant that are left God said to Moses let me alone but to you otherwise why doe you let me alone I stay for you if you pray earnestly I will come quickly Lastly I put you but this disjunction either oh Iacob thou hast thy brother Esau to meet withall or else thou hast not if not what meaneth thy feares If thou art to Gen. 32 24. and 33. 10. Isa 54 26. 17 58. 14 meet with rough Esau then remember what one nights sweating in prayer did how it first obtained the face of God then of Esau the promise is made to you Jf every promise is a new footstep for prayer wherefore you that ever prayed pray now nay you that never prayed pray now now is a praying time and it is good pulling whilest God is comming begging whilest God is giving and hath God dealt out nothing to the Churches in these last times Doe but obserue which way the wheele turneth in these latter dayes Quest Quest But why doe you exhort us to pray we are here purposely and come to pray Ans Answ True we are so but we must pray at other times too we are here this day to pray that we may pray hereafter that wee may set wheeles of prayer on going prayer doth fit for prayer but yet pray for the present and so we come to the fift note Obser 5 When the people of the land go forth to warre the of the Lord should go forth to prayer when the Arke removed then said Moses Arise O Lord c. our prayers are to lead Armies into the field 1. Iosh. 17. see how the people lead forth Ioshua According as we hearkened unto Moses in all things so will we hearken unto thee only the Lord thy God be with thee as he was with Moses you know the prayer of Asa Iehoshaphat Hezekiah and other worthies to this purpose reasons of it are these especially Reas 1 Reas 1. Every businesse is to be led forth by prayer prayer is a leading duty to all our dut●es and the greater any businesse is the more prayer is to be made the businesse of warre is a great businesse almost miraculous when I see an Army methinks I see a company of walking Townes it is a great matter and will you not haue so great a businesse led on by prayer Object Object But if a man haue a businesse to do which requireth hast by attending to prayer he may loose his businesse Answ Answ For that purpose consider but that one place in answer to this Iosh. 5. 2. In the foregoing chapter the children of Israel went through Iordan and came into their enemies country and in this verse the Lord said unto Joshua Make thee sharpe knives and circumcise againe the children of Israel the second Ioshua 5. 2. time now upon their circumcision they were sore wherfore vers 8. it is said They abode in their places in the camp till they were whole Now being come through Iordan and lying before Iericho among all their enemies the natiues could not but heare that they were circumcised and how sore they were insomuch as the children of Israel might haue objected and said Oh Lord if we be circumcised we shall hinder our designes weaken our selues advantage our enemies that they may fall upon us in our trenches but as the Lord commanded so did they they were circumcised neither did this act of Religion hinder their businesse and therefore let none say If I stay upon prayer my businesse will take despair No no precedent prayer will make it prosper trust God and you will finde it Reas 2 Reas 2. Salamon saith All things are beautifull in Eccles 3 1. 11. their season there is a time for all things therfore a time for prayer and though wee are to pray continually yet there is somtime wherein we are especially to draw near to God saith the Psalmist For this shall every one that is Psal 32 6. godly pray unto thee in a time that thou maiest be found Grace maketh one pray the wisdome of grace maketh one know the occasion season and time of prayer First Fearing times are times of praying saith the Psalmist At what time I am afraid J will trust in thee and true faith soon worketh it selfe into prayer Secondly Tropicall uncertaine times are times of prayer Zeph. 2. 3. Seek ye the Lord all ye meek of the earth if so be that ye may be hid in the day of the Lords wrath c. when the world laboureth under uncertainty then should the Saintes labour in prayer Again the morning time is a time of prayer Ps 5. 3. My voice shalt thou hear Ps 5 3. in the morning O Lord in the morning will I direct my prayer unto thee There is a morning of every yeere aswell as a morning of every day there is a morning to every businesse aswell as a morning to every day now is the yeeres morning now is the morning of our great businesse wherefore now up in the morning of this great worke let us direct our prayers to the Lord and looke up pray now my brethren for now it is seasonable Reas Reas 3 Thirdly As the promise is the only hold that we haue on God so prayer is the only ods that we haue of our enemy Beloved the enemies haue most commonly the outward advantage of Gods people look upon both and you shall find that outwardly they haue much odds either more men more money or more munition what shall weigh downe this odds but prayer Many times prayer doth more then the whole Army consider Ps 76. 3 Psal 76 1. There brake he the arrowes of the bow the sheild the sword and the battaile where In Salem Jn Sion He doth not vers 2 say in the field the arrowes are first broken in the assemblies by the Saintes prayers after that in the field by the Lords Souldiers It