Selected quad for the lemma: earth_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
earth_n	lord_n	sing_v	song_n	3,082	5	9.7277	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A51669	The spiritual vvorship exalted. Or A treatise concerning the worship and service of God shewing how uncapable men are in their natural and unconverted state of worshipping and serving God acceptably in this Gospel day. And that it is the light, grace and spirit of Christ revealed in men, which doth renew, fit, prepare and [q]ualifie them for performing that pure spiritual and acceptable worship which was instituted by our Lord, and practiced by his disciples and followers. As also several other things here inserted, worthy of observation. By a lover of truth, and wel-wisher of the souls of all men, George Myers.	Myers, George, 1653?-1714.	1687 (1687)	Wing M3174; ESTC R213894	43,291	111

in them before he mentions Singing or making Melody to the Lord and also the same Apostle gives an account what he himself will do upon this account saying I will sing with the Spirit and I will sing with the Vnderstanding also 1 Cor. 14.15 As for the Songs of wicked vain and ungodly People who daily rebel against the Light and Spirit of the Lord and the pure motions and conceptions thereof in themselves we do no where find that such have ever obtain'd divine acceptance in their excercise therein whilst they have continued in Vanity and Wickedness for the Lord by his Servants hath still testified against them Concerning Israel he saith Take thou away from me the noise of thy Songs for I will not hear the melody of thy Viols Amos 5.23 Also I will turn your Feasts into Mourning and all your Songs into Lamentation Amos 8.10 And of Tyrus he saith I will cause the noise of thy Songs to cease and the sound of thy Harps shall no more be heard Ezek. 26.13 And what was the reason of all this Even Sin and Iniquity for that has always been the cause of Dis-union and Separation between God and man. Object It s probable some may alledge the saying of the Apostle James Is any among you Afflicted let him Pray Is any Merry let him sing Psalmes And would infer from thence That if any be inclin'd to Mirth they may Sing by the Apostles Directions Answ In answer thereunto I say That there are two sorts of Mirth The one is a Mirth or Joy that springs up in the Hearts and Souls of Gods People being touch't and overcome with the Love and Presence of God as David said In thy Presence is fullness of Joy at thy right hand are Pleasures for evermore Psal 16.11 Also in Isaiah Behold my Servants shall sing for joy of Heart Isa 65.14 And Christ saith I will see you again and your Hearts shall rejoyce and your Joy no man taketh from you John 16.22 The other sort of Mirth or Joy is the Joy of wicked and sinful Men or that Mirth which arises from a vain foolish and wanton Mind The Apostle James is so far from directing such to sing Psalms that in the same Epistle he tells them of Mourning and Heaviness saying Cleanse your Hands ye Sinners and purifie your Hearts ye double minded be Afflisted and Mourn let your Laughter be turned into Mourning and your Joy into Heaviness James 4.8 9. Also Solomon spoke of this Mirth and said In Laughter the Heart is sorrowfull and the end of that Mirth is heaviness Prov. 14.13 Again he saith The Heart of Fools is in the House of Mirth Eccles 7.4 Also the Prophet speaking concerning Israel that was Apostatized and gone from the Lord and the counsel of his Spirit amongst other things says I will also cause her mirth to cease Hosea 2.11 Thus then as it is manifest that there is two sorts of Mirth or Joy and that the Mirth or Joy of the Wicked is but Vanity therefore we may conclude that the Mirth spoken of by the Apostle was that true Mirth or Joy that arises in the Hearts of Gods People being secretly toucht and overcome with the Love and Goodness of God and those who are witnesses of this true Mirth and Joy may sing Psalms according to the Apostles directions upon that account Object Some may object and say That although the Lord disowns vain Mirth yet David 's Psalmes are very good and useful and may be sung by those professing Christianity Answ Although David's Psalmes are very good and useful yet it does not therefore follow that any can sing them acceptably unless they be in some measure endued with that Spirit of God David was endued with and be under the fence and exercise of what they speak It is not only the repeating or singing over of good Words that the Lord looks at as hath been before observ'd but it is the frame and disposition of their Souls and Spirits from whom those words do actually proceed There 's no question but the Singers of Israel could express themselves with great Curiosity and draw out their Notes very exactly but what signified all that so long as it was not real but only formal and that their Hearts were adulterated from the Lord To what purpose can any rationally suppose it to be for People to sing David's Psalmes in Saul's Spirit or for those who spend their precious time in Wickedness Folly and Vanity and do very seldom think of Divine and Spiritual matters or of the Eternal and Irrevocable decree that must in one day be past upon them to sing thus I am weary with my Groanings All the Night make I my Bed to Swim I water my Couch with Tears My Heart is like Wax it is melted in the midst of my Bowels My Heart is not haughty nor my Eyes lofty My Soul is even as a weaned Child I have hated the Congregation of Ev l-Doers and will not sit with the Wicked I have set the Lord always before me My Heart is endicting a good matter I have remembered thy Name O Lord and have kept thy Law. Thy Statutes have been my Songs in the House of my Pilgrimage Thy Testimonies have I taken as an heritage for ever for they are the rejoycing of my Heart Lord I have loved the habitation of thy House and the place where thine Honour dwelleth These were David's Words and it s very likely that he was a Witness of what he spoke in these respects but then for any to undertake to sing them before the Lord because David spoke them and not because they are witnesses of such things in themselves nor of the Work and Influence of the Grace and Spirit of Christ by which these things are effected such Singers will not meet with divine acceptance in such performances nor is Singing in the least suitable to their State and Condition but rather Mourning and Lamentation because of Sin and Transgression Howbeit still although the Songs of the Wicked shall be turn'd into Lamentation and their Mirth into Heaviness in one day if they report not yet the Righteous shall Rejoyce and be exceeding Glad in the Lord and shall sing to his Praise and Glory in the Congregations of his People as David said Sing unto the Lord O ye Saints of his and give thanks at the remembrance of his Holiness Psal 30.4 Again Sing unto the Lord a new Song and his Praise in the Congregation of Saints Psal 149. 1. It s only those who by the Power and Spirit of Christ are gathered and redeemed out of the Defilements and Vanities of this World that can truly sing this new Song as John said No man could learn that Song but the hundred and fourty four thousand which were redeemed from the Earth Rev. 14.3 Such can sing the Songs of Sion and the Songs of Deliverance in the Land of the Living and can truly Magnifie and Extol that great and powerful

Law which was delivered unto the Children of Israel by the Ministry of Moses it pleased him according to his determinate Will and everlasting Counsel to send his own Son the Lord Jesus Christ who was born of the Virgin Mary in Bethlehem of Judea of whom Moses and the Prophets did write and whom John testified of to be the Lamb of God who taketh away the Sins of the World John 1.29 He perfectly fulfilled the Law and the Righteousness thereof and gave witness unto the Dispensation of the Gospel drawing Religion into the secret of the Heart he made it to consist in a higher state of Righteousness then that of the Law called Evangelical he also approved himself and the excellency of his Doctrine by many great and wonderful Signes and Miracles and sealed it with his Blood for that after he had preach't that heavenly Doctrine and wrought many Miracles among the Jews he was apprehended and by wicked hands was Crucified and Slain yet God raised him up again so that he triumphed over Death of which it was impossible for him to be held and after he was so raised up from the Dead he appeared to his Disciples and Followers who had believed in him comforting them with the hope and assurance of the pouring forth attendance of his Spirit by which he was to be with them unto the end of the World and by which they and all such as afterwards should come to believe in his holy Name might be rendered capable of bearing and holding forth a true certain and faithful Testimony for him whom God hath appointed for Salvation unto the ends of the Earth and also of performing that Worship and Service which was instituted by him which Worship is Spiritual and cannot be truly performed by the Art Strength Wisdom and Policy of men in their natural and unconverted state but only by those who are spiritually quickened and renewed unto God in some measure and whose Hearts and Souls are fitted and prepared by the Light Grace Spirit Power of our blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ That the Worship instituted by Christ is Spiritual is very plain from his own Words unto the Woman of Samaria John 4.21 22 23 24. Jesus said unto her Woman believe me the hour cometh when ye shall neither in this Mountain nor yet at Jerusalem worship the Father ye worship ye know not what we know what we worship for Salvation is of the Jews but the hour cometh and now is when the true Worshippers shall worship the Father in Spirit and in Truth for the Father seeketh such to worship him God is a Spirit and they that worship him must worship him in Spirit and in Truth This is the chiefest and most ample Testimony that Christ gives of the Christian worship as different and contradistinguished from that under the Law he tyeth not his People to the Temple at Jerusalem nor unto any other place but plainly holds out that the season is now come wherein the worship must be in Spirit and in Truth he also gives the reason for it and excellently argues from the anology that ought to be betwixt the Object and the Worship directed thereunto viz. God is a Spirit therefore he must be worshipped in Spirit This Testimony of our Lord is so clear in the case that I need not enlarge much further upon it but only add the saying of the Apostle Paul to the Church at Philippi We are the Circumcision that worship God in the Spirit and rejoyce in Christ Jesus having no confidence in the Flesh Phil. 3.3 By which it appears that the Saints and People of God in those dayes were in the practice of that worship which was instituted by our Lord as aforesaid Section II. Concerning Mans incapacity of Worshipping and Serving God acceptably in his natural and unconverted State. THat Men in their natural and unconverted state are uncapable of performing this spiritual Worship is certainly true for that whilst they remain in that state they cannot do any thing that is really good and acceptable unto God being subject unto that depraved and ungodly Spirit which leads People into Iniquity and rules in all the Children of Disobedience it comes to pass that not only their Words and Deeds but also the Imaginations of their Hearts are evil continually their Thoughts Notions and Conceptions concerning Divine and Spiritual matters are unprofitable both to themselves and others which thing doth yet further appear from divers Testimonies in the Scriptures of Truth Moses said That God saw the Wickedness of man was great in the Earth and that every Imagination of the thoughts of his Heart was only evil continually and that it repented the Lord that he had made man on the Earth and it grieved him at his Heart Gen. 6.5 6. David saith The Lord looked down from Heaven upon the Children of men to see if there were any that did understand and seek God and says They are all gone aside they are altogether become filthy there is none that doth good no not one Psal 14.2 3. And again But unto the Wicked God saith What hast thou to do to declare my Statutes or that thou shouldst take my Covenant into thy Mouth Psal 50.16 Jeremiah saith The Heart is deceitful and desperately wicked who can know it Jer. 17.9 Our Lord saith An evil man out of the evil treasure bringeth forth evil things Matth. 12.35 Also the Apostle Paul alluding to the saying of David says Thero is none Righteous no not one there is none that understandeth there is none that seeketh after God they are all gone out of the way they are altogether become unprofitable there is none that doth good no not one Rom. 3.10 11 12. Thus it is to be observed that what is thus spoken relates to men in their natural and unconverted State wherein their Souls are dead unto God and the things of his Kingdom and cannot live unto him nor do any such lively act as to serve him until they receive the Lord Jesus Christ and know the vertue and power of his Grace Spirit inwardly to quicken them unto God That so they may serve him in the newness of the Spirit and not in the oldness of the Letter Rom. 7.6 For alas it is not the bare performance of such things as are supposed to be religious duties that brings into acceptance with God unless the Heart Soul and Spirit of man be renewed fitted prepared and qualified by that which is holy and pure it s the rise of the performance that God looks at more then the outward act he that searches the Heart and tryes the Reins of men before whom all things are naked and bare looks not so much upon the external Fabrick as the internal frame of the Soul Vnto this man will I look saith the Lord even to him that is poor and of a contrite Spirit and trembleth at my Word Isa 66.2 We read that although the Jews were in the practice

of that Divine Spirit and Power wherein there is neither Jew nor Greek Bond nor Free Male nor Female but all are one even in Christ Jesus Gal. 3 28. who by the operation of his free Spirit may exercise whom he pleases in Building up Strengthening and Confirming his Church and People as also in bearing a Testimony unto his Blessed and Holy Name amongst the Sons and Daughters of Men. And yet nevertheless as it hath been so it is and ought to be observ'd that such Women as are not truly called qualified for such Services in the Church ought not to presume to Speak and Teach there but to learn in Silence with all due Subjection and indeed it concerns all both Men and Women to be very careful in these respects and also to be cautious that under the pretence of divine motion they be not found going into foolish Whimsies and Extreams out of the Liberties and Confines of Christian Prudence Decency and Moderation but that all keep under the Guidance Conduct Government Order and Discipline of the blessed and holy Spirit and Power of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ otherwise it may be said of Men as well as Women Let them keep silence in the Church for it is not permitted unto them to Speak in a spiritual unpreparedness and in dis-union with God and his People nor in any rule undecent or disorderly manner For our God is not the author of Confusion but of Peace as in all the Churches of the Saints 1 Cor. 14.33 Section VIII Concerning the Rise of Gospel Performances and the Qualifications of Gospel Ministers showing that they are not from Human Learning Worldly Wisdom and Natural Arts and Sciences but from the Divine Spirit FRom what hath been said concerning the Christian Ministry it is clearly manifest that the Vertue and Power of the Divine Spirit is absolutely necessary for the Qualifying Calling and Constituting of a Gospel Minister and that it is by the secret help motion and assistance thereof that every true Evangelist and Gospel Minister is to be acted and supplied in the performance of their Duties and Services otherwise it does no way appear that they can either be acceptable unto God or beneficial unto men inasmuch as man of himself in his natural and unrenewed State notwithstanding his outward abilities as to Human Learning is as it were a Stranger unto God and really anacquainted with the Mysteries of his Heavenly Kingdom for although School Learning Worldly Wisdom and Human Arts and Sciences are much look't upon and applauded in this our Age as Qualifications absolutely necessary for the Gospel Ministry yet we no where find any such ●ress laid upon the same in the Scriptures but on the contrary it rather appears from thence that the knowledge of Divine and Spiritual Mysteries are hid from the worldly Wise and is revealed unto those who by the vertue of the holy Spirit are born again and so are become Babes in Christ Unto this our Lord Jesus has given a very plain and ample Testimony Luke 10.21 22. In that hour Jesus rejoyced in Spirit and said I thank thee O Father Lord of Heaven and Earth that thou hast hid these things from the Wise and Prudent and hast revealed them unto Babes even so Father for it seconed good in thy sight All things are delivered to me of my Father and no mar knoweth who the Son is but the Father and who the Father is but the Son and he to whom the Son will reveal him Again its observable that although the Apostle Paul was learned sufficiently and brought up at Gamaliel's Feet yet all his Learning and Knowledge could not truly open his Understanding in Divine and Spriritual Matters for whilst he was acted by that Wisdom which was from below he was so blind that he ran on in a fierce career to Persecute the People of God Acts 11.29 and was exceedingly Mad against them yea he confesseth himself that he was a Blasphemer 1 Tim. 1.13 a Persecutor and injurious and says That beyond measure he Parsecuted the Church of God and wasted it Gal. 1.13 But after it pleased God to meet with him to call him by his Grace and to reveal his Son in him he came to learn an other Lesson he was so far from applauding and exalting worldly Wisdom and human Arts and Sciences as Qualifications of absolute necessity for a Gospel Minister that he rather seems to oppose the same saying Where is the Wise Where is the Scribe Where is the Disputer of this World Hath not God made Foolish the Wisdom of this World For after that in the wisdom of God 1 Cor. 1.20 21 c. the World by wisdom knew not God it pleased God by the foolishness of Preaching to save them that Believe For the Jews require a Sign and the Greeks seek after Wisdom but we preach Christ Crucified unto the Jews a Stumbling-block and unto the Greeks Foolishness but unto them which are called both Jews and Greeks Christ the Power of God and the Wisdom of God. And also he says verse the 27th But God hath chosen the foolish things of the World to confound the wise and God hath chosen the weak things of the World to confound the things that are mighty and base things of the World and things that are dispised hath God chosen yea and things which are not to bring to nought things that are that no Flesh should glory in his Presence Thus we see the Apostle doth much endeavour to debase the Wisdom of the World and to exalt the Power and Wisdom of God as yet still further appears in the following Chapter where he begins to speak concerning himself and his manner of coming unto the Corinthians saying 1 Cor. 2. And I Brethren when I came to you came not with excellency of Speech or of Wisdom declaring unto you the Testimony of God for I determined not to know any thing among you save Jesus Christ and him Crucified and I was with you in Weakness and in Fear and in much Trembling and my Speech and my Preaching was not with enticing Words of Mans Wisdom but in the demonstration of the Spirit and of Power that your Faith might not stand in the Wisdom of Men but in the Power of God. From whence it is very plain and clear that the Apostle Paul was no way enclin'd to allow that place unto Worldly Wisdom which of right belongs unto Divine Wisdom nor yet to attribute that unto natural Arts and Sciences which is only peculiar unto the holy Spirit which thing is also further confirm'd in the sequel of the same Chapter where the Apostle saith Eye hath not seen chap. 2.9 10 11 14. nor Ear heard neither hath it entered into the Heart of Man viz. man in the Fall the things which God hath prepared for them that Love him but God hath revealed them to us by his Spirit for the Spirit searcheth all things yea the