Selected quad for the lemma: lord_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
lord_n	abhor_v	hear_v	zion_n	39	3	8.3089	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A44530	The happy ascetick, or, The best exercise to which is added A letter to a person of quality, concerning the holy lives of the primitive Christians / by Anthony Horneck ...	Horneck, Anthony, 1641-1697.	1681 (1681)	Wing H2839; ESTC R4618	230,083	562

every Lesson that 's deliver'd in publick and when they hear Sinners reprov'd and condemn'd cry with the Disciples of our Lord Master is it I But our Business for the most part being with men who like wanton Children will scarce eat the Meat that 's cut for them and are so choak'd with the Cares and Riches and Enjoyments of this World that the loudest Thunders of God make no impression on them and fancy because they are not particularly named in the Bible that therefore the Commands there given do not belong to them we are forced to make the way they are to walk in as easie as we can remove the Stones out of it and tell them every step of the way in hopes that all these pains may work upon their good Nature and oblige them to break loose from the Kingdom of Sin and Darkness And therefore 1. If the Actions and Motions of our outward and inward man be made the Rule of this Daily Self-examination the particular questions that must be proposed to our Hearts at night must be such as these To begin with the Senses As for the Ear Have not I this day heard some ill immodest unsavoury Expressions used by others and hath it been a grief to me hath it been a trouble to my Soul to think that my God was abused and dishonoured by it Have not my Ears been open to corrupt and vain communications Have not I been tickled with some obscene or filthy Story I have heard Have I heard my Neighbour reviled or ill spoken of and have I done the duty of a Friend and justified his innocent Behaviour Have I heard this day of any undecent deportment of any of my Family and have I reproved them for it or admonished them to amendment of life Have not I been pleased with the Commendations I have heard men pass upon me and hath not their applause tempted me to vain-glory Have I heard of losses I have had with Patience Have I heard a man speak disgracefully of me without being enraged at the Calumny Have I heard men entice me to sin and have I abhorred the invitation Have I heard men Swear and Curse and have I been concern'd at the greatness of their Sin On the Lords day especially Have I heard the Word this day with seriousness Did I come to Hear with Resolutions to Practice what I heard Was my Heart affected with the happy Message of Grace and Pardon Was not I more taken with the Ministers delivery than the great things he spoke of Was it custom that obliged me to go and hear or was it a fervent desire to be edified and built up in my most holy Faith Do I feel in my self any Purposes at this present to do as I have been advised to day Did I prepare my self for hearing the Word by suitable Thoughts and Contemplations of that awful Majesty before whom I was to appear Did I feel any heat in my Hearing which was ready to consume the Straw and Stubble of my carnal Affections Did I find any sweetness in the Word of God I heard to day Was my heart ravisht when I heard the joyful news of Christs Redemption to day Was my Soul affected with the love of God when I heard it described to day at the Receiving of the Holy Sacrament Have I done my duty at home Have I made my Servants and Children hear what the Lord their God requires at their hands As for the Eye Have I this day lifted up mine Eyes to Heaven and taken notice of Gods Providences Have not I fed mine Eyes with some unlawful Spectacle Have not I seen men sin and laught at it Have not I beheld immodest Actions and been delighted with them Hath not the sight of such a Vanity transported me into admiration of it Have I read a Portion of the Holy Scriptures to day and remembred to apply the things I read of to mine own Conscience Have I been enflamed with the goodness of the men I have read of Have the Duties and Precepts I have read caused in me a willingness to perform them Have I beheld the Finger of God in the Blessings I have received to day Have I taken notice of Gods goodness to me and mine and stood amazed at it Have I look'd upon the Works of God to day upon Trees and Herbs and Flowers and admired the Wisdom Glory and Bounty of God As for the Tongue and Lips Have I wilfully spoke evil of no man to day Have not I rendred Railing for Railing and Threatning for Threatning Have I been careful to drop something of God in the company I have been in Did not I Eat and Drink to day more to please my Appetite then to repair the decay'd strength of my nature that I might be more serviceable to God and my Neighbour Did I take occasion to speak of something that 's good at my Table And when I craved a Blessing was not my mind more intent upon the Meat before me than on the Great God above me Have not I been intemperate to day Did not I Eat and Drink more than Nature required Have I Pray'd with my Family to day and did that Prayer proceed from an humble sense of our Spiritual Wants and Necessities Have not I said something whereby my Neighbour might suffer in his Credit and Reputation Have I dropt never a Lye in my Shop or Trade or in company either in Jest or for some Advantage or to please Men Have not I rashly made or falsly broke a Promise Have I in my Addresses and Answers shew'd all Meekness unto all Men Have not I talk'd Surly or Proudly to a Man because he was Poor Have not I disdain'd to speak to him because he went in Rags Have I avoided foolish Talk and when I have been tempted to break a Jest which was either Smutty or might be some way prejudicial to my Neighbour have I suppressed it and been more ambitious of being Grave and Modest than of the Reputation of being Witty As for the Hands and Feet whereby the Scripture usually expresses Mans actions Have I been diligent in the Duties of my Calling to day Have I defrauded no Man deceived no Man Have I dealt uprightly and honestly with all Men Have I shunn'd that company which I was afraid would draw me into Sin Have not I complyed with some sinful Action of the Company I have been in Have I some way or other shewn my abhorreney and detestation of their Sins Have I really endeavour'd more to please God than Men What good have I done to day Have not I taken more pains and care to dress my Body than I have done to beautifie my Soul Have not I been more curious about my Cloaths than about my Graces Have not I been more careful to make my Face pleasing to Spectators than I have been to approve my self to God Have not I lost somewhat of the Life of Religion by going into such Society Have not I spent

c. may be vanquished thus If the Adulterer would solemnly Vow and add Imprecations to his Vow not to come to his Harlot again and the Fornicator not to embrace the strange Woman again they might break the neck of these dreadful sins and indeed one such Vow shall do more than twenty fainter Purposes or Prayers In lesser Sins and sins of infirmity it is not so safe to Vow as in the other because we are too apt to be surprized into such Errors and to commit them before we are aware yet he that Vows to do something that 's irksome to Flesh and Blood in case he yields to any lesser sin by example in case he lies in Jest or in case he breaks out into a Passion c takes the readiest way to subdue the corruption and to be Master of his Spirit As to Vow not to sin at all would be rash and foolish and promising a thing ordinarily impossible so to Vow to mulct our selves if we commit a trespass of infirmity is to act like Wise men and such as are in good earnest resolved to cleanse themselves from all filthiness of Flesh and Spirit and to perfect holiness in the fear of God IV. When we find a backwardness or unwillingness upon our Spirits to do a duty we find commanded or are put upon by the secret instigations of our Consciences He that finds himself loath to pray three times a day must Vow that he will do so and then he must do it and whatever unwillingness may remain after the Vow is past time and use will make it easie He that is loath to do good to the Man that hath formerly wrong'd him must Vow to God that he will do it and force himself to it Nature where it will not be led must be drawn by violence and though unwillingness in the performance of a Duty makes no very sweet perfume in Heaven yet that offering violence to our Natures is a kind of conquering our selves and consequently is an acceptable present to the great Rewarder of them that diligently seek him This way he that was loath to visit a Neighbour against whom he had some prejudice may be brought to a Christian temper again and he that would not sing Psalms but at Church may be reformed This way the man that before cared not for good discourses may come to speak of spiritual things with delight and satisfaction and he that was a Stranger to Hospitality may come to open his House and Heart to the Stranger and Traveller In all these Cases Vows are seasonable and what Rules are to be observ'd in Vowing is the second particular I am to treat of 2. The Rules that are fit to be taken notice of in this Exercise are these following 1. These Vows must not be made to Saints For a Vow is a Religious Worship and therefore to be given to none but God Among the Papists it 's true such Vows are common but we have not so learn'd Christ nor did Antiquity allow this Profanation and though Marcellina S t Ambrose's Sister seems to have made a Vow to S t Laurence for her Brother Satyrus's good Voyage yet do the words used by S t Ambrose who relates the Story import no such thing for he tells his Sister that by her Vows at S t Laurence the Martyrs her Brothers safety was procured and those Vows might be Vows to God made in S t Laurence's Church or Oratory where the Bones of S t Laurence were buried it is not necessary to conclude that the Vow was made to the Saint However the practice of a Woman is no Law and had she made a Vow to the Saint by her Brothers approbation we know who it was that said Vow and pay unto the Lord your God Psal. 76. 11. nor do we read in all the Word of God that any Vows were ever made but unto him that understands our thoughts afar off and to whom it was said Praise waiteth for thee O God in Zion and unto thee shall the Vow be perform'd Psal. 65. 1. Nor do the latexamples of Chosroes King of Persia making a Vow to S t Sergius of King Pepin Vowing to S t Suibert or of Otho the Great Vowing to S t Laurence make the thing more lawful for an ill custom being once broacht it shall not want Followers if the subtle Prince of the Air can any way contribute to the itch of imitation II. These Vows must be serious not only in respect of the matter but in respect of the manner too As to the Matter they must not be slight and trivial things that are Vow'd to God He that should Vow that he will ride abroad such a day to take the Air or go into his Garden such an hour or go and buy such a thing he stands in need of or have such a dish of Meat for his dinner c. would make a Jest of this Sacred Tye and profane an Ordinance which God looks upon to be of the greatest weight and moment And as to the manner of the performance it 's fit that the Vow should be accompanied with Prayer and Supplications for Gods assistance in the due performance and therefore the Greeks by one word express both Vow and Prayer Prayer sanctifies the Vow and fastens the Soul in her resolution to keep it Hence it was that the Saints of old made their Vows while they were on their knees the same posture that they used in Prayer To this seriousness belongs sequestring our selves at that time when we Vow from all other Secular Businesses and entring into our Closets or retiring into places where no persons or divertisements are like to distract us A Vow requires the attention of the whole Mind and he that Vows while he is doing something else shews he hath no mind to perform what his lips have uttered The man in Plutarch therefore plaid the fool with Heaven that Vow'd he would throw himself from a Precipice and when he came to it chang'd his Mind and null'd the Vow with this Jest I did not think that this Vow had need of another Vow to see the first effectually perform'd Those Heathen Philosophers he speaks of in another place were more rational and serious that Vow'd to abstain from their Wives and to deny themselves of Wine a twelvemonth and for some certain time to shun Lying and consequently to Worship God by Continence for these Vows they made with great Solemnity and from a sense of Virtue and Goodness which made them very strict in the observance of those Promises III. In these Vows its fit such limitations should be added as are necessary and may free the mind from scruples afterwards when they are to be perform'd He that Vows to set aside a certain day in the Month for Fasting and Prayer had need except Sickness and such other inconveniences as may endanger his Life or Health in the performance for if he do not when such accidents