Selected quad for the lemma: heaven_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
heaven_n	corn_n	hear_v	oil_n	2,009	5	9.5924	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A68718	A key of heaven the Lords Prayer opened, and so applied, that a Christian may learne how to pray, and to procure all things which may make for the glorie of God, and the good of himselfe, and of his neighbour : containing likewise such doctrines of faith and godlines, as may be very usefull to all that desire to live godly in Christ Iesus.	Scudder, Henry, d. 1659?; Sibbes, Richard, 1577-1635.	1633 (1633)	STC 22122; ESTC S1717	241,855	822

had paid the third yeeres tithes they might pray saying I have hearkened unto the voyce of the Lord my God Deut. 26.15.16 and have done according to all that thou hast commanded mee Looke downe from thy holy habitation from heaven and blesse thy people Israel and the land which thou hast given us Hezekiah saith O Lord remember now 2 King 20 3. how I have walked before thee in truth and with a perfect heart When zealous Nehemiah had reformed abuses among the Iewes by cleansing the house of God restoring maintenance to the Leuites and standing for the sanctifying of the Sabbath day hee is bold to pray Neh. 13.14.22 Remember me O my God concerning this and wipe not out my good deeds that I have done for the house of my God And againe he saith Neh 13 31 Remember me O God concerning this also and spare me according to the greatnesse of thy mercy And Remember me for good Our Lord and Saviour saith I have glorified thee on earth and now O Father glorifie thou me with thine owne selfe Ioh. 17.4.5 Reason 1 God hath promised to give all good things unto all such men Psal 91.14 15. Because hee hath set his love upon me therefore will I deliver him saith God Hee shall call upon me and I will answer him Reason 2 The injoying of a good estate for body and soule is a good meanes to incourage and enable a man still to glorifie God This argueth all such men of Vse 1 high presumption which will expect that God should blesse them with all things needfull both for this life that which is to come when the time is yet to come that ever they did glorifie his Name in doing his will As if God were bound to preserve and save them and they were not tyed to serve him It shall be therefore a just thing with God to disappoint the expectations of all such men Whereas many unfained Vse 2 Christians being cast downe with a sense of their owne unworthinesse do doubt whether they should ask God any thing for themselves this doctrine may comfort them and may remove this scruple For their conscience can tell them that they desire in their very soules that Gods kingdome should be advanced and his name glorified whatsoever should become of themselves Let such be admonished of their fault and let them not wrong the Lords truth and goodnesse to thinke that he will not be gracious to them in things concerning thēselves now that he hath beene already so good as to give them hearts to desire to glorifie him Vse 3 Would any man with confidence aske of God all things that may do himselfe and his neighbour good let him observe this order set downe by Christ Iesus First seeke the things that concerne God and his kingdome then they may with Gods good leave speake to him for themselves and others Nay if they do not they offend God because they do not improve that gracious leave which hee hath given them for their best advantage Be zealous for God therefore and thence take encouragemēt to pray to him for thy selfe This may be done yet no allowance is given to expect any thing of merit for here the petitioner doth onely present himselfe unto God as one capable of his further favours looking for nothing but of mercie and doth therefore begge what he would have So Nehemiah though hee remembred unto God what he had done for the honour of God yet he saith Spare me Neh 13.22 according to the greatnesse of thy mercies Give us this day our daily bread The subject of this petition or the things desired are all things needfull for this present life Whence observe It is the will of God that his children should aske of him and use all good meanes for the welfare of this naturall life David saith O my God take me not away in the midst of my dayes Psal 102.24 If any man be afflicted Iam 5.13.14 let him pray Prayer is used as a meanes of victorie in warre and to remove famine pestilence and all annoyances of the bodie 2. Chron. 6. Aske ye of the Lord raine in the time of the latter raine Zach. 10.1 Reas 1 God hath promised to give to his children temporall good things as well as spiritual Godlinesse hath the promise of the life that now is 1. Tim. 4.6 Reas 2 The necessitie of man requireth that he should have supplies for this life that he may have a right minde in a sound bodie else he can neither enjoy himselfe nor do good to his neighbour nor do the service and works which the Lord appointeth he cannot profit man nor serve his God Witnesse the condition of distracted and melancholicke of naturals of dumbe and deafe persons Also what can men diseased and in paine do in comparison of what they may do when their minds are free bodies strong and healthie Christ Iesus hath redeemed Reas 3 the bodie as well as the soule and requireth that therewith men do glorifie God 1. Cor. 6.20 therefore the good thereof in its place is to be desired That use may be made of this point take a view of the particulars They respect the principall thing here desired scil life and health also all means thereof The bodie is then in health when it is in such good plight and temper that the soule can in and by it exercise the faculties of reason sense and motion to the comfort of it selfe the benefit of man and service of God The meanes of this good estate are wholsome aire meats drinkes apparell houses and whatsoever will keepe from bodily infections and inconveniences whether they serve to quench thirst or satisfie hunger or preserve from extremities of heat and cold or to restore defects in nature Now because these things cannot be except the Lord give fruitful seasons by causing the heavens to be wel disposed and the earth to be fruitfull request must be made that God would heare the heavens that they would heare the earth Hos 2.21.22 and the earth the corne and the win● and the oyle and that they all would heare and satisfie the necessities of man And when all these things are granted yet such is mans frailtie that if he have not a ●ill to make use of corne wo●●l physicke and so in other things he shall yet remaine destin●● of their use Therefore reque●● is to be made that God would give gifts and skill to men to that end Lastly if a man be furnished with all things before named yet if he lie open to the furie of enemies his life and welfare cannot consist Wherefore a good Commonwealth consisting of wise just and valiant governours and of numerous peaceable loyall and valorous subjects is to bee desired and the contrarie to all these is to be deprecated All therefore that shall debarre Vse 1 themselves of the temporall use of the comforts of this life except for a time when

and left them in God hath commanded them to pray and so he may doe justly for in Adam they were able to performe it so that if they doe not pray they incurre Gods displeasure and cannot looke to receiue any thing in mercy and with a blessing from the Lord and if they doe pray their prayer is abhominable because they have not Gods Spirit neither can they offer their prayers upon the Altar Christ Iesus by whom onely all prayers are accepted For all that are not indued with his spirit Rom. 8.9 are not his When these aske God regardeth it not Ob. The wicked notwithstanding are in Scripture oft said to pray Answ This is because they utter words of prayer and because sometimes they are heartie and earnest in their desires but these desires are lonely naturall and out of selfe-serving no service of God in his account Ob. If it be said the wicked have had their prayers granted Sol. I answer God heareth prayers two waies in mercy and in wrath Hee may replenish their table whith may bee to them a snare and hee can give them prosperity which will be their ruine Hee giveth it to them many times in wrath as he gave a King to the children of Israel Thus they may see Hos 13.10 that whether they pray or not their case is wofull because they cannot in faith say Our Father Are wicked men then Quest exempted from this duty of prayer By no meanes Answ for prayer is a worship and service of God required in the Commandements and is a duty implanted in nature Were it not better for wicked men not to pray at all Quest sith as hath beene said they cannot pray acceptably and that their prayers are abhominable No for their not praying at all Answ is a greater sinne then to pray in an ill manner All the faults concerning prayer may in a sort be charged upon him that prayeth not at all for hee neither prayeth to the true God nor prayeth good matter nor in a good manner c. A wicked man though he faile much in prayer yet not so much as when hee prayeth not at all It is the note of an Atheist not to pray at all Psal 14.4 Quest What are they to doe doth God cast them upon a necessity of sinne Answ God forbid The wicked themselves while they continue in sinne have put themselves into this straight But there is a way to help all namely to doe as Saint Peter did counsell Simon Magus Act. 8.22 saying repent of this thy wickednesse and pray first repent then pray Isai 1.13.15.16.18 Thus saith God to those for whose wickednesse he said that their incense was an abhomination and that hee would not heare their prayers Wash you make you cleane c. then come and let us reason together c. then come and pray No man then is put upon a necessity of sinne Let the most wicked man in the world be convinced of his sinne let him repent thereof and confesse it let him beleeve in Christ who came into the world to save sinners then he is qualified for prayer and shall be accepted of God when he doth pray Are the prayers of men unregenerate of no use Quest are they not all accepted To this I answer Answ I doubt not but that the prayers of unregenerate men when they are from the heart may in some sort be acceptable so farre forth as thereby to obtaine many good things of God as health deliverance from evils threatned or already afflicted and such like For God that heareth the Ravens when they cry will much rather heare men when they cry though they be not his children But as the prayers of a true childe of God differeth from the prayers of him that is unregenerate so is the acceptance with God also different Their difference shall appeare thus Difference betweene the prayers of the wicked and godly and of their different acceptance First a true childe of God doth in prayer call God Father with faith and holy confidence with the affections of a childe For when hee asketh forgivenesse of his sinne it is with griefe that he hath by his sinne offended his Father and it is with an heartie purpose not to offend him againe Also when he prayeth for health liberty grace or for any other good thing it is with a desire that in the injoyment of them he may the better please and honour his heavenly Father But a wicked man calleth God Father onely for forme and in presumption and hee doth not pray unto him with a childelike but either with a servile affection as a malefactor before a Iudge 1 King 21.27 as Ahab did or with a carnall affection in his desire of the good gifts of God and the good things of this life that therewith he may like those reproved by Saint Iames imploy them for the satisfying of some or other of his lusts Iam. 4.3 Secondly the childe of God prayeth chiefly and most heartily for spirituall things as for faith for forgivenesse of sinnes for holinesse for Gods favour and for those things which concerne Gods kingdome and glory But the unregenerate man prayeth chiefly and most heartily for Corne and Wine for temporall things and it may be for heaven and happinesse with Balaam in generall wishes Numb 23.10 but not particularly and unfainedly for graces whereby he may forsake his beloved sin and may live holily unto the end of his dayes Thirdly the prayers of the godly when they are made in sinceritie are like all other their good workes they have a supernaturall goodnesse in them being the acts of the regenerate part through the spirit and are performed to a supernaturall end But the prayers of the wicked though in some things they are unfained yet at best they are but naturall desires not intended as a service of God but onely as a meanes to serve their own turnes in those things which they know can be obtained by no other meanes Now touching the acceptance of prayers with God Those which his children make though they be not without much imperfection yet because they be the prayers of men reconciled to God by Christ and doe proceed from hearts purified by faith and because they are put up in the name of Christ they become acceptable through him so farre as to procure not onely temporall good things but also such as are spirituall and eternall And these things they obtaine of God as from a loving Father and as a fruit of his speciall promise and out of his speciall grace and love to them in Christ Iesus As for the prayers of the wicked because God and his ordinance of prayer is thereby in some part honoured they are in some part accepted so farre that many times they procure temporall good things but it is onely temporall good things such as are common to the elect and reprobate which hee giveth to them not as a loving Father