Selected quad for the lemma: lord_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
lord_n	call_v	day_n	sabbath_n	45,288	5	10.7053	5	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A32824	A practical treatise concerning evil thoughts wherein are some things more especially useful for melancholy persons / by William Chilcot.	Chilcot, William, 1663 or 4-1711.	1698 (1698)	Wing C3847; ESTC R6628	61,347	294

our thoughts the better when we have more liberty for the World How inconsiderable soever this Rule may seem to any yet I doubt not but a great part of the vanity and evil of our Thoughts and Imaginations is owing to a careless and remiss observation of the Lords-day Neither can I think that that glorious Promise any more than the Morality of the fourth Commandment is stinted to the Jewish oeconomy alone tho' it may primarily concern that Isa 58. 13 14. If thou turn away thy foot from the sabbath from doing thy pleasure on my holy day and call the sabbath a delight the holy of the Lord honourable and shalt honour him not doing thine owne ways nor finding thine own pleasure nor speaking thine own words Then shalt thou delight thy self in the Lord and I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth and feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy Father for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it Being watchful over our selves when we are alone is another Rule which we are to observe in order to the well governing of our Thoughts in general Solitude is a season when our Thoughts are very apt to rove and then to light upon ill objects When a Man is by himself he is not secure from his spiritual enemies and with respect to the multitude of vain and evil Thoughts that Then are apt to come into his Mind it may be truly said of him Nunquam minus solus quam cum solus Upon which account it was that the Devil chose that opportunity to tempt our Saviour when he was in the wilderness alone Because he well knew that at such a time as that the Mind of Man being at leisure his Thoughts will be more relaxed and wandring and so more easy to be won by his suggestions and to comply with his Temptations A Monastick Life doth not secure a Man from evil Thoughts but in some sort makes him the more obnoxious to them The Devil will pay his unwelcome visits to us in our Privacy as well as in Conversation And the Hermite in his Cell hath as much reason to look well to his thoughts as he that is in the Croud of this World And Therefore I take it to be very advisable that at any time when we are alone we suffer not our thoughts to scatter and flie at random for unhappy conjunctions oftentimes prove the consequence of such erratical motions but to confine them to some certain bounds and determinate subjects Such as the Power or Goodness of Almighty God or the like which will sweetly imploy our thoughts and refresh our minds And the more profitably to think on any such subject we may when we are alone likewise think on our own sinfulness be judging our selves confessing our sins and laying open our hearts before God which will make the goodness of God more illustrious and admirable and also keep us from being assaulted with any dreadful and terrifying thoughts with any filthy and profligate thoughts and our hearts from being deadn'd and stupify'd with Mopishness and drowsiness c. which at such a time we are more especially prone to Again In the next place let us be very careful to entertain the good motions of God's Holy Spirit to obey his Heavenly Inspirations to bowe to his sacred suggestions when at any time we are blessed therewith Every good thought should be made well-come and cherish'd and improv'd by us and by that means we shall not only avoid evil thoughts but in time arrive at an happy temper and habit of good thoughts which is one of the most desirable things in the world and most of all prepares the Soul for the purity and ravishment of the Contemplation of God and the Joys of Heaven Let us therefore always improve every good thought or motion that comes into our Minds and entertain it as an Embassy from God as a spark of the Celestial fire And let us diligently attend and listen to the counsels and monitions of our own Consciences by no means resist their checks or stifle their Advertisments To draw to a Conclusion of this Chapter If we would attain to this great Thing viz. the due government of our Thoughts let us be careful to preserve our selves innocent and harmless to do no hurt or evil at any time willingly Let us make Religion and the Fear of God our Business Let us make use of God's wonderful Works both of Mercy and Judgment which at any time occur in the World seasoning our Hearts with an Holy Meditation of them There are a great many more excellent Rules in order to the Well-governing our Thoughts As applying our selves to our proper Teachers and Spiritual Guides for comfort and Assistance when our Hearts are oppressed with wicked Thoughts or prevailing corruptions Avoiding unwarrantable Curiosities and prying into hidden Mysteries and unnecessary Speculations Contentment Temperance Humility Trust and Affiance in God and abundance more which are in that large field of Discourse which such a subject as this affords and which if I should enlarge upon as I have done on the former Heads would swell this Treatise into a much bigger Book than I design'd it I shall therefore content my self and the Reader with these Principal Rules and Directions for the well-governing of the Thoughts in general which have been treated of in the fore-going Pages Which well put in practice will I doubt not by the blessing of Almighty God prove in a great measure effectual to the end design'd And that if we not slightly and indifferently but closely and in earnest apply our selves to them we shall thereby prevent Evil Thoughts and attain that happy and desirable Government over our selves which either sloth or ignorance makes some Men think to be Eutopian and impossible Only adding this one particular more which must by no means be pass'd over and that is The deep and serious consideration of the last Dreadful Judgment Consider seriously with your selves then That there is a day a coming when not only all the Actions and more known passages of our Lives but even our most Private and Retired Thoughts shall be accounted for When God shall judge the Secrets of Men by Christ Jesus Tho' Men cannot see our Thoughts yet an All-knowing God can and doth and will assuredly judge us for them In that day when these that have labour'd to approve themselves unto God by an Internal purity and sincere Obedience not regarding the eye of the World or the silly applauses of mortal Men but the favour of God and Conscience of their duty shall be crown'd with eternal honours and all their secret Piety be rewarded openly And these that have hypocritically carried a fair outside and pass'd for civil honest moral Men whilst their inward parts were very wickedness and their Hearts full of all uncleanness shall be laid open and expos'd to the shame of all the World and they banish'd from the presence of