Selected quad for the lemma: judgement_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
judgement_n	day_n	heart_n	youth_n	1,554	5	9.4723	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A61809	Of the reverence due to God in his publick worship a sermon preach'd before the King & Queen, at White-Hall, March 25, 1694, being the 5th Sunday in Lent / by the Right Reverend Father in God, Nicholas Lord Bishop of Chester.	Stratford, Nicholas, 1633-1707.	1694 (1694)	Wing S5937; ESTC R687	12,865	32

of that God we are going to worship That he is of purer Eyes than to behold Evil and cannot look upon Iniquity that he will not hold them guiltless that take his name in vain And when we are come into his House let us especially remember That his holy and jealous Eye is upon us to observe not only the Deportment of our Bodies but the most secret Motions and Inclinations of our Souls Were our Minds thus possessed with a quick sense that this Great and Glorious and Holy and Allmighty God hath his Eyes constantly upon us could we suffer our own Eyes to be always rowling as if our only Business in coming to the Church were to observe what Faces and Fashions do there present themselves 3. Let us seriously consider of what great moment to our selves every part of the Divine Worship is What is it we ask of God in our Prayers Is it so small a thing that our Condition will not be much the better or the worse whether it be granted or denied us Oh no! It is nothing less than the Pardon of our Sins and the Assistance of his Grace to be delivered from his Wrath and to be received into his Favour which if we obtain we shall be inconceivably happy if we miss we shall be for ever intolerably miserable And can we be too serious too intent too earnest in begging such things as these What is the consequence of our Thanksgiving when it is sincere and hearty Is it not the continuance of those Blessings which we have already received and the procuring of those which we yet want Were we sure that what we now have would abide with us for ever and that we should never stand in need of more we might then think our selves the less concerned to return Thanks for what is pass'd but alas it is not so with us whatsoever we have is God's and he may recal it when he pleases and nothing can more highly provoke him to deprive us of our present Enjoyments than our Unthankfulness for them Because she knew not that I gave her her corn and wine Hos 2. 8 9. and oil and multiplied her silver and gold therefore will I return and take away my corn in the time thereof and my wine in the season thereof c. So God threatned unthankful Israel Is the Word of God read and preach'd of such little concernment to us that it matters not much whether we attend to it or not Is it not the Rule according to which we shall be judged at the great and dreadful Day So St. Paul tells us God saith he shall judge the secrets of men Rom. 2. 16. according to my Gospel Yea the Judge himself hath told us the same He that John 12. 48. rejecteth me and receiveth not my words hath one that judgeth him the word that I have spoken the same shall judge him at the last day All they to whom the Gospel is published shall be judg'd by the Gospel and as that either acquits or condemns them so shall they receive their Sentence from the mouth of the Judge And can we pay too awful Attention to that Book which contains those Rules of Righteousness by which we shall be tried and adjudged to a State of Weal or Woe for ever Considering therefore that every part of the Divine Worship is of such high Importance to our selves we cannot surely be too attentive and reverent in the performance of it If all that hath been hitherto said should not be thought enough to compose us to a devout Frame of Spirit Let us consider 4. The near approach of Death and that after Death comes the Judgment How soon this earthly Tabernacle may be dissolved we cannot tell the present instant is all that we are sure of the remainder of our Time is wholly in God's hand and who knows but he may contract it to the next moment Do we not almost daily hear of some who are suddenly cut off But the longest term to which our Hopes can extend how short is it For what are Forty Fifty or Sixty Years more Will they not pass away as a Shadow Be in truth as short as those have been which are already pass'd which now they are pass'd seem nothing to us They who now make their Religion but a matter of Drollery when grim Death shall stare them in the face their Thoughts as well as their Countenances will then be changed That Noble Earl who in the times of his health treated God and Religion with as much Contempt as his profane Wit was able to invent what awful Thoughts had he of the Divine Majesty when Death presented it self to his view How passionately did he then cry out to a Gentleman that came to visit him O remember that You contemn God no more he is an avenging God and will visit You for Your Sins But did Death put an end to our Being it would then be no great matter whether God were our Friend or our Enemy but as sure as it is that we must die so certain is it that we shall be brought to Judgment Rejoice O young man in thy youth and let thine heart cheer Eccles 11. 9. ther in the days of thy youth and walk in the ways of thy heart and in the sight of thine eyes but know thou that for all these things God will bring thee into judgment O the Tremblings and the Agonies they will then be seized with who are now so merrily disposed that they cannot prevail with themselves to be serious when employed in the weightiest Business in the World How ghastly and distractedly will they then look who now sport themselves with all that is Sacred The Buffoon will then be struck dumb with Horrour and Amazement who now makes it his common Divertisement to ridicule Religion Into what dismal Cries and Lamentations will their Rantings and Revellings then be changed O were there any place for Hope left with what Sorrow would I now confess my Sins which I formerly made a mock of How earnestly would I implore the Mercy of God for the Pardon of them How importunately would I pray for the Grace of God's Holy Spirit to give me a new Heart How attentively would I listen to those Divine Lessons I formerly despised And how careful would I be to put them in practice But Oh! it is now too late the Door is shut and will never again be set open to me No Cries nor Tears no Sighs nor Groans will now avail the Judge is inexorable nothing remains but that I suffer the Vengeance of that God whose Grace and Mercy I formerly set at nought Did we set before our Eyes the Terrours of the Lord could we carry it so to his Face as to provoke his Wrath against us No doubtless had we a vigorous sense of these things upon our Hearts how devout should we be in our Prayers How attentive in hearing God's Word How careful to remember and put in practice what we hear In a word How should we then work out our salvation with fear and trembling I shall add but one Help more and that is 5. Let us pray earnestly to God to give us his Holy Spirit to excite in us an awful sense of his Glorious Majesty to inspire us with heavenly and devout Thoughts and Affections to open our Hearts to attend to his Word and to compose our Minds to a steady attendance to every part of Divine Worship If we thus pray with our whole Heart our Requests will certainly be granted For so God hath promised If thou criest after knowledge and liftest up Prov. 2. 3 5. thy voice for understanding then shalt thou understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God Thou shalt then experimentally know what it is to be truly Religious and shalt find thy self tyed by the strongest Bonds imaginable most devoutly to worship the Almighty Creatour Preserver and Governour of the World To whom be ascribed c. FINIS

it again but would as Ananias and Sapphira were be stricken dead upon the place 'T is true God seldom in comparison shews himself so severe in this World because this is the Day of Grace the Day of Vengeance is deferred till the next All that Wrath which Sinners by their hard and impenitent Hearts do here treasure up unto themselves he reserves it for them till that dreadful Day of Wrath and of the Revelation of his righteous Judgment When 2 Thess 1. 7 8 9. the Lord Jesus shall he revealed from Heaven with his mighty Angels in flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God and that obey not the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his power He will then be so consuming a Fire that his very Presence will inflict everlasting Destruction upon all those who either now chuse not to know him that they may without fear neglect him or if they know him refuse to acknowledge and glorifie him as God But were this Destruction such as would put an end to their Being it would be the less terrible yea so far from being terrible to them in that dismal State of Misery in which they will then be that might they have their Wish they would beg no greater Favour of God than to be reduc'd to nothing But alas they shall be destroy'd not simply as to Being but as to all such Being as is not inexpressibly worse than no Being Nothing will remain to them but to be cast into Hell where the worm dieth Mark 9. 44 46 48. Rev. 14. 11. not and the fire will never be quenched but the smoak of their torments will ascend for ever and ever They will then be experimentally convinced to their Eternal Sorrow That it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands Heb. 10. 31. of the living God of that God who lives for ever and therefore will never cease to inflict vengeance upon them However they may think to trifle with God now they will then find to their woe That he will not be mock'd To what hath been said upon this Head I shall add but one Consideration more which is such as one would think should be of force if not to affright yet at least to shame Christians out of all careless and negligent Behaviour in the House of God And that is That even Turks and Heathens yea the very Devils will rise in Judgment against irreverent Christians and condemn them So devout are the Turks that they suffer not themselves so much as to look about them but perform their Religious Offices with such Attention of Mind that they think they should lose the fruit of their Prayers if they should then but scratch their Head with their Finger as an Eye-witness informs us For what say they Busbeq Epist 3. if when a Man is to speak with the Bashaws his whole Body is composed to Reverence how much greater Reason is there that the same Respect should be given to GOD who so much exceeds all humane Heighth and Greatness So intent they think they ought to be at their Prayers as not to be diverted though the Execution of the Sultan's Decree should in the same moment be commanded Sir Paul Rycaut's Present State of the Ottoman Empire lib. 2. chap. 23. Edit 1. as another Author tells us For Heathens it may suffice to say That this was one of Pythagoras's Precepts When Lilii Greg. Gyrald Pythag. Symb. Interpret thou comest into the Temple worship and while thou art there do nothing else And another of his Rules was That no Man should go into a Temple when he is in a Journey The meaning of which is That God should not be worshipped by the bye or when a Man is otherwise employed but with the greatest Solemnity and Intention of Mind Numa Pompilius decreed That his Citizens should neither see nor hear Divine Matters in a careless manner and with wandering Thoughts but laying aside all distractions of Mind should wholly apply their Meditations to Religion And Plutarch tells us That In the Life of Numa Pompilius he took care that in the Time of Divine Worship no noise should be heard in the Streets which might obstruct or disturb the seriousness of Devotion what shall I say more Those who believe the Being of God and yet do not Reverence him as God the very Devils will rise up in Judgment against them for though I do not say they worship God yet 't is certain they do not despise him but dread the thoughts of his Power and Justice for the Devils believe and tremble Jam. 2. 19. I proceed now in the III. And last place to suggest some further helps by way of direction in order to the better performance of this Duty I say further helps because all the Arguments before-mention'd are so many helps towards it And 1. That we may the more devoutly worship God in his House let us before we come thither lay aside our worldly Thoughts and Affections Let no man as St. Chrysostom speaks enter In Vid. Dom. Hom. 1. the Church having the cares of this World about him no man with a wandering and distracted mind but let him lay all these down without the doors and so let him come For coming thither as In Cap. 1. Evang Johan Hom. 1. he says in another place We come to Heaven not in respect of the place indeed but of the temper and disposition of our minds for a Man while he lives on Earth may ascend to Heaven and take a view of the things that are there c. Let no Man therefore in the Church think of his domestic affairs but on the contrary while he is yet at home let him begin those things he is to do in the Church Unless we thus leave the cares of this Life behind us we shall do nothing less than that which we pretend is the only thing we come to do For the bare presenting of our bodies before God can by no means be interpreted a worshipping of him if our carriage be such as plainly testifies That our hearts are far from him They therefore have little reason to reckon themselves in the number of his sincere Worshippers whose thoughts in his House are so much set on the things of this World that they cannot prevail with themselves to forbear talking of them even while the Divine The Lessons Epistle and Gospel Oracles are reading which one would think should if any thing command their attention as being the Voice of God without any Gloss or Comment upon it of Man's Devising 2. In order to the loosening of our thoughts from earthly things and raising them up to the things above Let us when we are going to his House reflect upon such like Considerations as those I have before proposed Let us seriously consider the most adorable Majesty