Selected quad for the lemma: heaven_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
heaven_n	bless_v	lord_n	praise_n	6,339	5	9.8316	5	true

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A23818	The reform'd samaritan, or, The worship of God by the measures of spirit and truth preached for a visitation-sermon at the convention of the clergy, by the reverend Arch-Deacon of Coventry, in Coventry, April the sixth, 1676 : to which is annexed, a review of a short discourse printed in 1649, about the necessity and expediency of worshipping God by set forms / by John Allington ...	Allington, John, d. 1682.	1678 (1678)	Wing A1213; ESTC R2327	57,253	87

Under the Law we all know the ordinary and outward Worship it was Sacrifice and Burnt-offerings and yet mercy and the knowledge of God Spiritual and Evangelical acts were even then most acceptable and even then upon this very account you shall finde both David and the people going up to worship Psal 122. 1. I was glad when they said unto me Let us go into the house of the Lord. Now what did the people go into the House of the Lord for or for what did David so rejoyce to go up with them was it think you to hear a Sermon No but it was to worship or as it is v. 4. To give thanks unto the Name of the Lord. And Psal 42. 4. What is it the Prophet David there so sadly remembreth and in bitterness poureth forth his Soul for the want of it but onely this I had gone with the multitude I went with them to the house of God What to do onely to hear No but to worship and to give praise to God For it followeth I went up with the voyce of joy and praise with a multitude that kept holy-day He was a great Worshipper and delighted to go up with them who went to worship And it seems to me worth observation and to our present purpose that from the beginning of the world all along in Scripture we never read of any erection raised to God but the first and prime intention of it was Worship For The first holy erections we read of they were Altars and those we know were for Sacrisice which was then Worship The second we read of was the Tabernacle and at the Door of this Moses and Aaron they went up to worship Thirdly we read of a glorious Temple built by Solomon of a second built by Zerubbabel a third by Herod all devoted and built for Worship Yea saith God by his Prophet My house shall be called the house of prayer to all nations and what is that but the house of Evangelical worship And indeed we finde to that very use the blessed Apostles did put the Temple Peter and John they went up to the Temple at the hour of prayer Yea the very first Houses that the holy Christians after them built they were called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Oratories or Houses of Prayer And indeed what is Heaven it self and the glorious presence of our God but a place of worship Rev. 4. 10. The four and twenty elders fall down before him that sate on the throne and worship him that liveth for ever and ever and cast their crowns before the throne saying Thou art worthy O Lord to receive glory and honour and power for thou hast created all things and for thy pleasure they are and were created Yea if that Argument of St. Paul upon which he prefers Charity before Faith and Hope be concluding if Charity because it abideth when Faith and Hope shall be no more is therefore the more excellent gift certainly then since we finde Worship where Preaching shall not be since we finde Worship the employment of Angels and the everlasting exercise of beatified Saints and Souls to worship God must needs be a duty of no mean concern specially if we consider how we are taught to pray Thy will be done in Earth as it is in Heaven for the will of God there is an incessant and an everlasting worship Now certainly either we minde not what we pray believe not we are to do as well as to say our Prayers or else we could not conceive our selves bound to worship upon Earth even him who is incessantly worshipped in the Heavens And being I have shewed unto you how all holy places that were ever erected either by Commandment from God or by the instinct or motion of the Spirit of God were all chiefly designed for worship that is for offering up unto God either Sacrifice or Prayers Praises Confession of Sins Professions of Faith Hymns Psalms and spiritual Songs therefore such places they ought to be frequented by us and that purely upon the account of these performances that is upon the account of Worship For He that enters into this House of Prayer and devoutly as did the Publican shall smite his Breast and say no more than God be merciful to me a sinner he doth God more honour than is done by the rude and ordinary hearing of a Sermon He who shall humbly fall upon his Knees and sincerely offer up unto the Father the Prayer of his own Son those two Knees do God more honour than a thousand Hats upon a thousand Heads Yea being it is the charge of our blessed Lord and Master Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorifie your Father which is in Heaven It is impossible any example should be visible unless the Reverence be sensible and the outward Expressions such as may move others to fall down and worship that is reverendly to confess to praise to bless and to glorifie our Father which is in Heaven It is an old saying and a true Occultae Musicae nullum encomium Of concealed Musick there is no praise For let an Artist have in him the sense and habit of Musick never so well be he able in his Spirit to lodge the comprehensions of all Harmony yet unless he either sing or play unless he either by Voice or Instrument discover this hidden skill he can neither give delight to the Hearer or get any praise or respect unto himself Even so it is in Religion and holy Duties let men have in Spirit the habits of Faith Hope Charity and all Graces whatsoever all this whilst but in the Spirit it onely is Occulta Musica undiscerned Piety invisible goodness nothing at all either edifying others or advancing God's glory So that whether it be Conversation or Worship Spirit without Truth inward Religion without outward Evidence Faith within without Works without they may be Arguments of a Fanatick by no means of an holy Spirit So that I shall conclude this whole Discourse with that of our Saviour Matth. 19. 6. Whom God hath joyned together let no man put asunder Whether it be in our converse with God or Men whether it be in God's Service or in God's Worship whether what we do hath respect to the Person of God or to the Commands of God Spirit and Truth whom God hath joyned together they must never be put asunder What Graces soever we have in the Spirit the truth of their being there must be evidenced by our outward carriage what Reverence what Fear what Awe and what Esteem soever the Spirit hath of the Majesty Presence and Greatness of our God that must be verified seen and proved by our outward Worship For If God in Heaven will not that Angels and Spirits worship within themselves and as some take the Notion in Spirit onely If to him all the Angels cry aloud the Heavens and all the powers therein If to him Cherubin and

known that Prayer should be with such prudence and care composed that nothing be in any of publick cognizance which hath any thing of private Interest and Designe in it In the Offices of the Church of Rome and in factious Prayers we see and hear too much of this Upon Ash-wednesday thus prayeth the Roman party Omnipotent and eternal God spare the Penitent and be propitious to the Supplicant Et mittere digneris Sanctum Angelum tuum de Coelis qui Benedicat Sanctificet hos Cineres And vouchsafe to send down thine holy Angel from Heaven that he may bless and sanctifie these Ashes Will you see to what end It followeth Vt sint Remedium salutare Omnibus Nomen Sanctum tuum implorantibus semetipsos pro Conscientia Delictorum suorum accusantibus ante Conspectum Divinae Clementiae facinora deplorantibus vel serenissimam pietatem tuam suppliciter obnixeque flagitantibus That they may be an wholsom Remedy to all who humbly call upon thy holy Name and out of conscience of their own demerits accuse themselves deploring their heinous sins in the sight of thy Divine Clemency or humbly and earnestly begging thy most serene Piety Et praesta per invocationem sanctissimi Nominis tui ut quicumque eos super se asperserint pro Redemptione peccatorum suorum Corporis sanitatem Animae tutelam percipiant per Christum Dominum nostrum And grant that by the invocation of thy most holy Name whosoever shall sprinkle these upon themselves for the Redemption of their sins may receive the health of Body and protection of Soul through Jesus Christ our Lord. Now this Collect having that in it which the Principles of our Church allow not for as much as we are wholly ignorant of any capacity in Ashes of being blessed and sanctified or of any promise made that upon prayer for such a Sanctification God will send an Angel from Heaven on such an errand we not believing that Ashes are ordained to be an wholesom remedy to all who humbly call upon God's holy Name or that in order to remission of sin we may sprinkle them upon our Heads or if we should that thence should issue no not upon Christs account health to our Bodies or protection to our Souls we I say disbelieving all this cannot joyn in such Petitions neither give our presence or Amen to such a Prayer And many very many such extravagances are in the Roman Breviary and Missal Now if Protestants generally opine it is not lawful knowingly to be present when Petitions against their Judgement and Conscience are to be offered up in Prayer and prefer'd to God certainly then it is at least very dangerous for any Christian to frequent conceived and unknown Prayers For as bad or worse than any is in the Roman Liturgie have done and may come from men so praying And this probably was a main reason that the Independants dropt off from the Presbyterians and the Quakers both for neither having common principles neither could conscientiously endure to pray together And indeed to an unknown Prayer a discreet man may very well say he therefore will not be present at it I profess it is a grand desire of my Heart that as there is but one Shepherd so there might be one Fold I should rejoyce at nothing more than an universal Communion a Catholick Peace among Christians and perchance wise men will finde no one better expedient than an uniformity of Worship by such a Form of Prayer to which all sincere and sober Christians might say Amen Now a Form nigher to such an one wiser than my self have not seen any than our present Liturgie For let all the Exceptions to which the Roman Breviary and Missal are lyable and could they be numbred let all the insipid Excursions Vagaries Impertinences and Follies of Extemporary and conceived Prayer be reckoned up The Liturgie of the Church of England is not in any proportion for Exceptions to be compared with either our Compilers aiming as Christians more at Unity than at any discernable designe whatsoever But the Porch begins to be too big for the Building and therefore my most honourable Neighbour I thus contract In Privacies as Closets let the devout proceed a Gods Name to pour out their Souls by such expressions as may best heat Devotion and best fix the Spirit For words that most affect the Heart and best sute to private grievances and personal wantings are the best expedients there For indeed onely the Spirit of man knoweth what the Spirit would But when the religious Master in his Parlour shall call in his Family to publick Duty then the Prayer be it what it may it would be set and that were it onely therefore that the weak and more ignorant might surely learn it it being a very laudable and good thing to minister Words as well as Grace unto the hearer and also for this reason further to secure the stranger who upon this account can make but one hazard of his discretion for then he shall be able to discern whether or no it be meet for him any more to joyn in such a Form But if any worthy and devout person would that all who lodge under his Roof or come ordinarily to his Table should joyn with him at his hours of Prayer without some trespass upon prudence and civility he can neither desire nor require it unless he shall use a known and a publick Form and to chuse the Common-prayer For then shall the Strangers be Children of one and the same Mother the Church of England it would be an unhandsome refusal in them not to joyn in prayer for a blessing from God the Father in the words of our Catholick and holy Mother Which Blessing may God the Father God the Son and God the Holy Ghost confirm to you and yours and upon all the honourable Family is the unfeigned desire of From Leamington-Hastang 1666. Honourable Sir Your Neighbour professing himself most ready to Love Honour and Serve you John Allington TO THE READER THough this little Treatise now appears under a second Impression it is the Author's First For the Father being in those days Proscriptus the Child might very proportionably be Expositivus When the Father durst not shew his Head the Childe durst not tell his Name Nor was it written with any intention of a publick View so that indeed by that shift it bear 's a fairer Front than he who writ it durst have put upon it for amongst the honourable Army of Confessors Divines sequestred upon our Church-account he held himself too too unworthy to write their Apology All his designe was to give the reasons of his own Sufferings and to shew that he conceived he had just cause to prefer the Liturgie to his peace Now for as much as these Reasons were given in such a time when if they had not been Reasons the Pressures and Indigenoes attending them would easily have discovered at their Request whom I much

we are to take no notice by a Worship in Spirit and Truth and by worshipping the Father understood worshipping in a Form for Father implies a Form and by publick Liturgies let us a little survey their Piety and their Prayers First Our blessed Lord and Master who gave this rule he himself exemplified what he gave for the exact Pattern and the very Basis of all Gospel-worship is Pater Noster Our Father The Apostolical Symbol the Canon and Square of all the Professions of our Faith it begins Credo in Deum Patrem I believe in God the Father Confession of sins as the words were by our Saviour put into the mouth of the penitent Prodigal it is an address unto the Father I will go to my Father c. And Father I have sinned against heaven and against thee The Sacrament of Initiation or first admittance into the mystical Communion it is confined to this rule In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost Yea when the Church in humble thankfulness returneth Praise and Glory unto God for all his benefits it is done as becomes true Worshippers by worshipping the Father and by saying Glory be to the Father and to the Son c. And as for the Church of England is not every Collect a most exact Gospel-worship Almighty and most merciful Father begins our Confession Almighty God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ begins our Absolution Then the Prayer of the Son unto his Father And the Close of every Collect is through Jesus Christ which is still an implication of the Father So that according to this rule the true Worshippers shall worship the Father Who can be truer Worshippers than that Church all whose publick Prayers are Addresses and Acts of worship to the Father And as for Spirit and Truth had it been inconsistent with publick and outward Worship or with Form then St. Paul would never have writ to Timothy 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that Prayers should be not onely said but made for Kings and all that are in Authority St. James the Brother of our Lord he had scornfully and ignominiously been termed Jacobus Liturgus James the Liturgist had set Forms been inconsistent with Spirit and truth Justine Martyr he would never have spoken of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of Common-prayers nor Ignatius before him of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of one Prayer had it been a stinting of the good Spirit to have a Liturgy or a Common-prayer Yea there would have been no Churches to have worshipped God in no publick Assemblies to have worshipped there nor indeed no use at all of our Bodies in order to God's glory if Spirit and Truth concluded against outward worship Whatsoever then the antient Churches understood by Spirit and Truth they did not understand an opposition either to bodily or to outward worship For that which is held the best Interpreter of Scripture to wit Praxis Ecclesiae the Church-Practice you see it doth evince the contrary for they had Churches they had known and set Forms for publick worship Yea Beza himself in his smaller Notes thus Quae ad Ordinent spectant ut precum formulae disposuit Apostolus Those Decencies which appertain to Order as Forms of Prayer the Apostle himself prepared and disposed By Spirit and Truth then we may very well here understand a worshipping of the Father according to those measures which the Spirit Light and Grace of the Gospel prescribeth and alloweth to us By Truth we may understand such outward expressions and manifestations as are proportionable to such a Spirit to such Light to such Grace for so by their unanimous and constant practice the primitive and best Churches understood it Lastly therefore give me leave in a word to shew how much it concerns us to give all due regard and respect to the outward and publick Worship of God under the state of the Gospel The Servants of God under the Gospel they are stiled by our Saviour Veri Adoratores the true Worshippers not the unsatiable Hearers Now it seems strange to me that Christians should emphatically be called the true Worshippers and yet many make no account at all of Evangelical Worship as if God did not as much regard the honour done unto his Person as he doth the bare hearing and listening to his Word Or as if Pray continually and Continue in prayer sounded not as much duty as doth Be instant in season and out of season By Evangelical Worship I understand Prayers Supplications and giving of Thanks confession of Sin profession of Faith making and performing of Vows oblation of Praise singing of Hymns and Psalms reception of Sacraments Adoration either with or without these So that the Father is then worshipped in Spirit and in Truth when there is a reverential address or a religious performance of all or any of these before him so that we cannot come under the honourable Appellative in the Text Veri Adoratores true Worshippers unless we outwardly and publickly even thus assemble for to worship Esay 66. 23. the Evangelical Prophet speaking of Gospel-days thus writes All flesh shall come to worship before me saith the Lord. To worship is not to clap on our Hats and sit on our Seats to hear a Sermon but to perform some act of honour some humble office some such religious Duty the reverence whereof may shew forth our distance and the Father's glory the performance whereof may move all who see it say These men are in the presence and before their God These men know what they worship These men have the Fear and Apprehension of a glorious Majesty before their eyes For being the great designe of God in all his works is the setting forth of his own Glory Worship it is the very immediate tendency to that great end For they that worship it is their actual employment to set forth his praise and to magnifie him under some glorious Attribute or other So that indeed between Hearing and Worshipping there is as much difference as between Hearing and Doing For Hearing being but a disposition to Doing Worship is the very practice Doing and actual Advance of God's honour and therefore a Duty not to be laid aside nor so coolly frequented and performed as by too too many He who in the second Commandment said Thou shalt not bow down to them or worship them He who forbids Sacrisice and Prayers and Praises yea the very bowing of the Body to false Gods doth not in so doing imply less than a reservation of this Worship to himself And therefore to him who is the everliving God and the everlasting Father to him we must ascribe and give the Glory the Honour and the Worship that evangelically is due unto him for the true Worshippers are in all duty bound to worship the Father and to worship him in Spirit and Truth Hos 6. 6. I desired mercy and not sacrisice and the knowledge of God more than burnt-offerings